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iREATION  SURVEY 

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CINCINNATI 


JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 

DECEMBER  1,  1913 


RECREATION  SURVEY 


OF 


CINCINNATI 


JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 

DECEMBER  1,  1913 


0 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Page 

INTRODUCTION    . 


GENERAL  SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS , 4 

SECTION  A.     RECREATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 10 

Activities  of  School  Children 10 

Activities  of  Adults 15 

SECTION  B.     THE  VARIOUS  FORMS  OF  RECREATION....  .....  15 

Home   Recreation 15 

Private  Recreation    (Social  Clubs,  Church  and  Philanthropic  Agencies)  21 

Commercial    Recreation 25 

Public   Recreation. 35 

The  Colored  Child  and  Youth 41 

SECTION  C.      ADMINISTRATION 42 

Present  Administration 42 

Defects  in  the  Present  System  of  Administration 43 

Suggested   Administration .......  v 44 

SECTION    D./.S$£'ti&STipNS    if Q-R  •  AX    ADEQUATE    RECREA- 
TION PROGRAM  FOR  CINCINNATI: 4ii 

General   Recreation  Program  for  the  Future 4(» 

Immediate  Recreational  Needs  of  Cincinnati .  .                 47 


Juvenile  Protective  Association 
of  Cincinnati. 

ESTABLISHED  1912. 
(Endorsed  by  the  Council  of  Social  Agencies.) 

PURPOSE. 

1.  To  investigate  and  to  suppress  and  prevent  the  conditions  and 
to  prosecute  persons  contributing  to  the  dependency,  truancy,  or  de- 
linquency of  children,  and  to  promote  the  welfare  of  children  in  every 
respect. 

2.  To  co-operate  with  the  Juvenile  Court,  Compulsory  Education 
Department,    State    Factory    Inspector,    and    all    other    child-helping 
agencies,  and  to  increase  their  efficiency  wherever  possible. 

3.  To   promote   the   study  of  child  problems,  and  by   systematic 
agitation,  through  the  press  and  otherwise,  to  create  a  permanent  public 
sentiment  for  the  establishment  of  wholesome  agencies,  such  as  parks, 
playgrounds,    gymnasiums,    free    baths,    vacation    schools,    communal 
social  centers  and  the  like. 

OFFICERS  AND  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

DR.  ALBERT  H.  FREIBERG President 

REV.   FRANK   NELSON Vice -President 

MR.  RICHARD  CRANE V ice-President 

MR.  FRANK  BELL Vice-President 

MR.  CLIFFORD  B.  WRIGHT Treasurer 

Miss  HELEN  S.  TROUNSTINE Secretary 

DR.  BORIS  D.  BOGEN,  MR.  GUY  MALLON, 

Miss  EDITH  CAMPBELL,  MR.  WM.  J.  NORTON, 

MRS.  MARTIN  FISCHER,  PROF.  W.  H.  PARKER, 

MRS.  CLARENCE  MACK,  MR.  J.  O.  WHITE, 

Miss  HELEN  S.  TROUNSTINE,  Director, 
Office,  804  Neave  Building. 


The  Association  is   supported   by   voluntary   subscription  and 
contributions. 


393420 


INTRODUCTION. 
Purpose  of  Report. 

.  This  report  embodies  the  results  of  a  six  months'  study  of  local 
recreational  conditions.  It  is  given  to  the  public  with  the  hope 
that  it  will  stimulate  interest  in  recreational  matters,  and  establish 
the  importance  'of  an  adequate  recreation  program  in  any  plan  for 
a  better  and  finer  Cincinnati  or  for  a  happier  and  more  successful 
life  for  the  least  of  its  citizens. 

The  part  played  by  recreation  in  the  daily  routine  of  every  in- 
dividual of  the  community  has  often  been  discussed  theoretically. 
Social  workers  have  frequently  spoken  of  the  sacial  -significance  of 
uncontrolled  pleasure.  Xo  one  knew  definitely,  however,  the  recrea- 
tional conditions  of  the  city  as  a  whole.  Believing  that  knowledge 
based  on  facts  is  the  basis  of  all  intelligent  action,  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  undertook  to  secure  this  information  through 
careful  investigation  as  its  contribution  toward  public  welfare. 

Scope  of  the  Survey. 

The  scope  of  the  survey  included  the  collection  of  a  certain 
amount  of  information  relative  to  present  recreational  conditions, 
and  the  formulation  of  a  plan  to  develop  facilities  for  recreation 
in  Cincinnati  so  as  to  adequately  meet  the  needs  of  all  the  people. 

Material  in  the  Report. 

The  report  is  divided  into  four  sections.  The  first  section  sets 
forth  the  data  collected  concerning  recreational  activities ;  the 
second  describes  the  existing  facilities  and  extent  of  the  various 
forms  of  recreation;  the  third  discusses  the  present  system  of  gov- 
ernmental administration  of  recreational  matters  and  suggests  a 
new  and  improved  method;  and  the.  fourth  outlines  a  comprehensive 
recreation  program  for  Cincinnati,  and  points  out  immediate  recrea- 
tional needs. 

Acknowledgment  of  Help. 

During  the  field  work  and  in  the  preparation  of  the  report  in- 
valuable suggestions  as  to  method  and  form  were  secured  from 
a  study  of  the  published  ''Recreation  Survey''  of  Kansas  City. 
Acknowledgment  of  thanks  is  also  clue  the  Superintendent  of  Schools, 
the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners,  and  to  the  heads  and  subordi- 
nates of  the  various  departments  of  the  municipal  government  for 
their  courteous  assistance  in  the  gathering  of  the  necessary  infor- 
mation, and  to  Mr.  Maurice  Hexter  for  the  generous  contribution  of 
his  services  in  investigating  the  public  dance  halls. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 


GENERAL  SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  casual  reader  the  general  information 
and  recommendations  contained  in  the  report  are  here  briefly  sum- 
marized. 

Activities. 

From  a  study  of  1,178  papers  written  by  school  children  living 
in  all  parts  of  the  city  on  what  they  did  in  their  spare  time,  it  was 
ascertained  that  23.3%  of  the  spare  time  of  boys  and  24.2%  of  that 
of  girls  is  taken  up  with  some  form  of  work.  Only  14%  of  the 
boys'  and  26.2%  of  the  girls'  recreational  life  is  filled  by  home 
amusements. 

Outdoor  games  secure  from  the  boy  larger  interest  than  any 
other  form  of  recreational  activity.  Boys  think  twice  as  much  of 
outdoor  sports  as  girls  do,  while  girls  think  twice  as  much  of  talk- 
ing to  and  calling  on  friends,  and  nearly  three  times  as  much  of 
inactive  recreational  occupations.  Boys,  therefore,  need  better  facili- 
ties for  outdoor  play,  and  girls  for  wholesome  sociability. 

Of  1,124  children  observed  out  of  doors,  41%  were  playing, 
while  45%  were  doing  nothing.  More  boys  than  girls  were  doing 
nothing,  and  50%  of  the  children  observed  were  between  ten  and 
fifteen  years  of  age — a  significant  fact  when  the  Juvenile  Court 
reports  that  47%  of  the  total  number  of  children  brought  before  it 
are  between  ten  and  fifteen  years  of  age.  The  playgrounds  within 
a  reasonable  distance  from  where  these  children  lived  were  well 
filled  with  children.  As  idleness  has  no  recreational  value,  it  ought 
to  be  checked  by  placing  play  leaders  in  charge  of  the  certain  streets 
in  the  congested  districts. 

Various  Forms  of  Recreation. 

There  are  four  kinds  of  recreation  ;  namely,  home  recreation, 
private  recreation,  commercial  recreation,  and  public  recreation. 

1.  For  the  majority  of  people  there  is  practically  no  'opportunity 
for  home  recreation.  A  study  of  the  density  of  population  by 
wards  shows  that  one-third  of  the  twenty-six  wards  have  a 
density  of  population  from  six  to  thirteen  times  as  great  as  the 
density  of  population  of  the  whole  city.  The  fifteenth  ward  has 
the  greatest  congestion,  with  129.9  persons  per  acre  ;  the  neigh- 
boring seventh  ward  comes  next  with  110.9  persons  per  acre. 
The  average  population  per  acre  is  8.8.  A  house-to-house  study 
in  three  "Soundings-1  in  different  parts  of  the  city  showed  that 
the  average  number  of  rooms  to  a  family  are  2.3,  and  the 
average  number  of  persons  to  a  room  are  1.9.  No  "living" 
rooms  were  found,  except  in  a  very  few  instances.  No  facilities 
for  outdoor  home  play  in  the  three  "Soundings"  were  found.  An 


RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI.  O 

engineer's  survey  of  the  neighborhood  showed  that  there  was 
scarcely  any  space  for  private  outdoor  play,  even  including  in 
the  count  lawns  and  ungraded  spaces  which  might  be  converted 
into  play  space,  and  that  from  30%  to  70%  of  the  land  in  the 
neighborhood  is  occupied  by  streets  and  alleys.  Answers  from 
twenty  school  principals  relative  to  their  pupils'  opportunity  for 
home  recreation  show  that  in  the  majority  of  homes  the  facilities 
for  recreation  are  few.  As  a  result  of  the  lack  of  opportunity 
for  home  recreation,  the  child  is  forced  into  the  unsupervised 
street  to  play,  and  the  youth  and  the  adult  become  dependent 
upon  commercial  recreation  and  other  outside  sources  for  their 
diversion.  Healthy  family  life  is  impaired,  and  the  individual  is 
placed  beyond  the  moral  control  of  the  family. 

2.  Private  recreation  is  of  two  kinds,  that  supplied  by  co-operative 
clubs  and  that  provided  through  philanthropic  effort.     A  record 
was  obtained  of  214  "Pleasure,"  "Social,"  "Outing"  and  "Fish- 
ing" clubs.      Fifteen  of  them  report  a  total  membership  of  580 
men  between  twenty-one  and  forty  years  of  age.     Some  of  these 
clubs  are  organizations  for  the  promotion  of  public  dances  for 
the  sake  of  profit,  and  most  of  the  public  dances   at  the  wrorst 
dance  halls  in  Cincinnati  are  given  as  such  club  affairs.     Many 
of  these  clubs  meet  in  connection  with  saloons;  a  few  have  their 
own  club  rooms. 

Four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  boys  and  men 
are  reported  as  belonging  to  five  of  the  largest  athletic  organiza- 
tions in  the  city.  Considerable  athletic  activity  is  carried  on 
among  the  public  school  children. 

Over  1,850  boys  and  men  played  baseball  in  regularly  organ- 
ized teams  every  Saturday  and  Sunday  throughout  the  summer. 
In  addition,  360  public  school  boys  played  100  games  during  the 
season,  and  the  Catholic  Churches  had  a  baseball  league  with 
eight  teams.  Grounds  on  which  to  play  are  hard  to  secure,  and 
public  athletic  fields  are  altogether  inadequate. 

According  to  the  school  census  of  1913  there  are  36,054  un- 
married youths  between  14  and  21  years  of  age  in  Cincinnati. 
The  number  of  young  people  between  12  and  21  years  of  age 
reached  by  the  recreational  work  of  the  churches  and  philan- 
thropic agencies  as  reported  by  them  is  9,095.  These  figures  are 
incomplete,  of  course,  as  much  of  this  recreation  is  of  an  occa- 
sional nature.  The  attendance  of  girls  between  14  and  18  years 
of  age  at  these  recreational  activities  falls  off  decidedly,  probably 
because  we  have  not  yet  learned  the  needs  of  the  adolescent  girl. 
On  Saturdays  and  Sundays,  when  the  most  people  seek  diver- 
sion, practically  no  opportunity  for  recreation  is  offered  by  these 
private  agencies. 

3.  Commercial  recreation  provides  for  fully  two-thirds  of  the  play 
life  of  the  community.     One  hundred  thousand  two  hundred  and 
twenty-nine   (100,229)   people  attend  the  moving  pictures  daily. 
The  quality  of  recreation  they  afford  is  on  the  whole  very  good, 
but  the  posters  advertising  the  productions  are  lurid  and  sensa- 


O  RECREATION   SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

tional  and  ought  to  be  censored  as  well  as  the  films.  Eleven 
theaters  have  a  seating  capacity  of  17,739.  Two  of  the  burlesque 
theaters  and  one  of  the  vaudeville  houses  give -performances  of 
extreme  vulgarity..  Four-fifths  of  the  patrons  of  these  places  are 
men,  25%  of  whom  are  between  18  and  25  years  of  age.  For  the 
protection  of  the  public  these  productions  ought  to  be  censored 
and  the  city  ordinance  amended  so  as  to  make  unlawful  sexually 
suggestive  acts  and  speeches  in  any  performance  or  exhibition. 

There  are  781  public  pool  rooms  with  1,275  tables,  three  shoot- 
ing galleries,  and  21  bowling  alleys.  The  quality  of  recreation 
these  places. offer  is  good  only  as  a  result  of  constant  supervision. 

Twenty-seven  public  dance  halls  and  dancing  academies  pro- 
vide recreation  for  about  6,000  people  on  Saturday  and  Sunday 
evenings.  The  quality  of  recreation  provided  by  four-fifths  of 
the  places  is  of 'the  lowest  order.  There  are  two  skating  rinks 
in  the  city  with  a  total  capacity  of  1,280  couples.  One  rink  is 
patronized  wholly  by  colored  people.  Amusement  parks  are  vis- 
ited by  about  950,000  people  during  the  summer.  The  quality  of 
recreation  they  offer  is  poor,  as  the  management  is  usually  in- 
different to  the  character  and  general  conduct  of  the  patrons. 
Persons  who  operate  amusement  parks  ought  to  be  required  to 
secure  a  license  so  as  to  come  under  public  control.  The  bathing 
beaches  on  the  Kentucky  shore  accommodate  about  240,000 
people  during  the  season.  Better  supervision  would  increase 
their  recreational  value.  Commercial  recreation,  if  supervised, 
provides  splendid  facility  for  amusement;  unsupervised,  it  is  a 
menace  to  the  wholesome  life  of  the  community  and  is  easily 
turned  into  an  instrument  for  the  furthering  of  vice.  Cincinnati 
needs  new  and  better  methods  for  supervising  its  commercial 
recreation. 

4.  Cincinnati  has  G8  public  school  buildings,  only  twelve  of  which 
have  been  used  to  their  fullest  capacity.  Only  occasional  use 
heretofore  has  been  made  of  the  school  buildings  for  recreational 
purposes  and  only  two  schools  have  had  anything  approaching 
social  center  activity.  A  Social  Center  Director  lias  just  been 
appointed  to  work  under  the  direction  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Schools.  Nine  of  the  public  library  buildings  have  auditoriums 
which  are  used  by  the  public  for  recreational  purposes.  Not 
counting  small  plots  of  land  laid  out  solely  to  beautify  the  city, 
the  city  has  30  public  parks  and  parkways  with  a  total  area  of 
•1,879.6  acres.  A  great  deal  of  this  land  is  at  present  unimproved. 
Public  recreation  to  be  beneficial  to  the  community  must  be  ade- 
quately supervised.  The  public  parks  were  insufficiently  policed. 
This  past  summer  thirteen  playgrounds  were  maintained  by  the 
Park  Board -with  a  total  of  14.9  acres,  five  tennis  courts,  two  golf 
links  and  nine  athletic  fields,  with  a  total  area  of  87.9  acres.  In 
the  section  of  the  city  in  which  50,003  children  live  (reckoning 
on  the  basis  that  300  children  are  the  maximum  number  who 
can  play  on  a  acre)  public  play  space  is  provided  for  only  3,360 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  7 

of  them.  Although  in  the  adjoining  Seventh,  Tenth,  and  Fifteenth 
wards  11%  of  the  total  child  population  of  the  city  between  6 
and  17  years  of  age  live  in  s/io%  of  the  total  area  of  the  city,  the 
public  play  space  provided  totals  only  3.1  acres.  The  play- 
grounds are  kept  open  only  four  months  during  the  year.  The 
western  section  of  the  city  is  not  properly  provided  with  athletic 
fields.  Five  small  school  playgrounds  were  kept  .open  during 
the  summer  months.  Public  play  space  is  altogether  inadequate 
at  the  present  tinre. 

5.  Two  large  colored  settlements  are  located  on  Walnut  Hills  and 
the  western  part  of  the  downtown  residential  section,  respec- 
tively. Recreation  for  the  colored  youth  on  the  hill  is  partly 
provided  for  by  the  social-center  activities  of  the  Douglass  School. 
The  young  people  who  live  downtown, .however,  have  absolutely 
no  opportunity  for  wholesome  recreation.  Except  the  Y.M.C.A., 
no  social  agency  has  yet  concerned  itself  with  this  grave  situa- 
tion, although  15%  of  the  delinquent  boys  and  29%  of  the  delin- 
quent girls  are  colored,  when  only  5.4%  of  our  entire  population 
is  colored.  A  social  center  in  the  center  of  the  colored  settle- 
ment (about  Eighth  and  Mound  streets)  is  urgently  needed. 

Administration. 

At  present  the  administration  of  recreation  is  divided  between 
four  departments  of  the  government,  sometimes  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  each  other.  The  School  Board  establishes  and  main- 
tains school  playgrounds  and  social  centers;  the  Park  Board  estab- 
lishes and  maintains  parks  and  playgrounds;  the  Mayor  has  regu- 
latory powers  over  certain  forms  of  commercial  recreation ;  and  the 
police  have  general  supervisory  powers.  The  chief  defects  of  this 
system  are: 

1.  Lack   of   unity.      Although    both   the    School    and    Park    Boards 
establish    and    maintain    public    facilities    for    recreation,    their 
efforts  are  not  correlated. 

2.  No  specific  department  of  the  government  fs  responsible  for  the 
development  of  facilities  for  public  recreation.     The  Park  Board 
is  primarily  interested  in  the  furthering  of  a  park  and  boulevard 
system. 

o.  Lack  of  adequate  supervision  of  commercial  recreation.  Although 
the  Mayor  has  supervisory  powers,  no  machinery  is  provided  for 
adequate  inspection  and  control. 

4.  Opportunity  for  friction.  Under  the  present  division  of  respon- 
sibility, there  is  constant  opportunity  for  friction  between  de- 
partments of  the  government.  To  do  away  with  these  defects, 
it  is  suggested  that  all  the  administrative  powers  be  centered 
in  one  board,  known  as  the  Park  and  Recreation  Board,  to  be 
composed  of  five  members — four  to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor, 
(one  to  be  a  member  also  of  the  Board  of  Education)  and  the 
Superintendent  of  Public  Schools. 


o  RECREATION   SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

The  duties  of  the  Board  should  be : 

1.  The  acquisition  and  management  of  property  for  use  as  public 
parks  and  playgrounds. 

2.  The  establishment,  management  and  supervision  of  all  other 
facilities    for    public    recreation,    exclusive    of    public    school 
buildings  used  as  social  centers. 

3.  The  supervision  of  commercial  recreation,  which  shall  include 
the  power  at  present   vested  in  the   Mayor  of  granting  and 
revoking    licenses    which    are    required    by    law.     They    should 
have  the  power  to  appoint  salaried  executive  officers  and  such 
other  assistants  as  may   prove  necessary  to  efficiently   carry 
out  the  three  functions  of  the  Board.     As  school  property  is 
not  under  the  control  of  the  municipal  government,  a  Recrea- 
tion  Board,   to   be   able   to   prosecute   successfully  an   adequate 
recreation  program,  must  be  composed  in  a  way  to  insure  the 
closest  co-operation  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

General  Recreation  Program  for  the  Future. 

The  School  Board  should  hereafter  not  erect  public  school 
buildings  without  making  ample  provisions  for  school  playgrounds. 

School  playgrounds  should  be  kept  open  in  each  neighborhood 
for  the  use  of  children  from  2  to  13  years  of  age. 

The  Recreation  Board  should  establish  playfields  within  a  rea- 
sonable distance  of  each  other,  especially  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
young  people  between  the  ages  of  13  and  17  vears,  and  large  athletic 
fields  in  different  sections  of  the  city  for  afiults. 

The  School  and  Recreation  Boards  should  jointly  employ  a 
Playground  Supervisor,  so  as  to  unify  methods  of  supervision. 

The  system  of  public  parks  and  parkways  as  a  part  of  a  broad 
recreation  system  should  be  developed  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth 
of  the  city,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  adequate  facilities  for  active 
outdoor  play. 

After  school  playrooms  should  be  established  by  the  School 
Board  and  maintained  by  the  Recreation  Board,  if  necessary  to  con- 
tinue the  work  of  the  playgrounds  during  the  winter  months. 

A  director  of  Girls'  Clubs  and  a  director  of  Boys'  Clubs  should 
be  appointed  to  study  the  needs  of  the  adolescent  youth  and  stimu- 
late the  establishment  of  social  clubs  in  every  section  of  the  city. 
These  clubs  could  meet  either  at  social  centers  or  public  libraries. 

Social  rooms  equipped  with  facilities  for  games  of  various  sorts 
should  be  open  nightly  in  the  schoolhouses  in  congested  districts 
for  the  convenience  of  young  girls  and  young  men. 

Social  center  activities  conducted  by  the  School  Boards  should 
be  along  the  broadest  lines  and  should  include  the  giving  of  neigh- 
borhood dances  at  regular  intervals. 

Where  the  School  Board  is  unable  to  maintain  and  conduct  a 
social  center  in  a  neighborhood  lacking  sufficient  facilities  for  recrea- 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  9 

tion,  the  Recreation  Board  should  establish  and  maintain  recreation 
centers,  as  it  is  done  in  Chicago-,  Seattle  and  other  cities. 

All  forms  of  commercial  recreation  should  be  under  constant 
supervision. 

This  supervision  should  in  no  way  check  the  free  development 
of  commercial  recreation,  but  should  increase  its  recreational  value. 

Immediate  Recreational  Needs. 

A  playground  should  be  established  in  the  northern  section  of 
the  Seventh  Ward  or  the  southern  section  of  the  Tenth  Ward. 

An  athletic  field  should Jbe  located  east  of  Millcreek  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  western  section  of  the  city. 

Until  an  adequate  number  of  playgrounds  are  provided  certain 
streets,  least  used  -by  traffic,  should  'be  shut  off  in  the  congested 
sections  of  the  city  to  be  used,,  under  supervision,  for  play  purposes. 

The  present  playgrounds  in  the  congested  sections  of  the  city 
should  be  open  twelve  months  in  the  year.  Seventy-one  cities  in 
the  United  States  keep  299  centers  open  throughout  the  year. 

The  public  parks  should  be  better  supervised. 

A  social  center  for  colored  people  should.be  established  as  near 
Eighth  and  Mound  streets  as  possible. 

A  social  center  should  be  opened  in  either  the  Sixth  District 
or  Webster  schools.  Neither  of  these  buildings  are  new  and  espe- 
cially equipped  for  social  center  purposes,  but  the  congestion  of 
population  is  so  great  in  that  locality  that  the  need  is  urgent.  No 
private  agencies  provide  means  for  recreation  in  that  neighborhood. 

A  social  center  should  be  opened  at  the  Washburn  School,  where 
the  density  of  population  is  129.3  persons  per  acre;  at  the  Sands 
School,  where  the  density  of  population  is  89.3  persons  per  acre; 
at  the  Chase  School  in  Cumminsville,  where  the  density  of  popula- 
tion is  83.4  persons  per  acre.  The  Guilford  School,  although  the 
newest  building  and  best  equipped  for  social  center  activities,  is 
located  in  a  district  where  the  density  of  population  is  only  30.3 
persons  per  acre.  There  are,  moreover,  two  social  agencies  in  its 
immediate  vicinity  affording  good  opportunities  for  recreation. 

Steps  should  be  taken  to  secure  the  censorship  of  theatrical 
posters. 

Section  879  of  the  Codification  of  Ordinances  should  be  amended 
so  as  to  make  it  unlawful  to  permit  suggestive  acts  and  speeches 
in  any  performance  or  exhibition. 

Persons  who  wish  to  conduct  amusement  parks  ought  to  be 
required  to  secure  a  license. 

An  ordinance  empowering  the  city  to  forbid  steam  vessels 
which  are  not  sufficiently  supervised  or  lighted  to  make  use  of  the 
public  docks  should  be  passed  to  provide  for  control  of  recreational 
conditions  on  excursion  boats. 

A  new  ordinance  for  the  control  of  public  dance  halls  should  be 
passed,  providing  special  machinery  for  the  inspection  of  public 
dances  by  the  municipal  authorities.' 


10  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 


SECTION  A.     RECREATIONAL  ACTIVITIES. 

I.     ACTIVITIES  OF  SCHOOL  CHILDREN. 
Papers  of  School  Children. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  recreational  activities  of  children,  with 
the  co-operation  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools,  the  children  of 
the  Sixth,  Seventh  and  Eighth  grades  of  forty-five  of  the  district 
schools  and  the  First  and  Second  grades  of  two  of  the  high  schools 
of  the  city  were  asked  to  write  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  on 
what  they  did  with  their  spare  time.  A  careful  study  was  then 
made  of  1.178  of  these  papers — 589  from  boys  and  589  from  girls. 
The  papers  were  selected  at  random  from  the  total  number,  but  an 
attempt  was  made  to  keep  the  proportion  of  the  papers  written  by 
boys  and  girls  the  same  from  each  school.  The  papers  were  all 
written  during  the  first  week  in  October. 

Table  I  summarizes  the  number  of  children  mentioning  each 
form  of  amusement  as  well  as  the  number  of  times  each  form  of 
amusement  was  mentioned.  This  "mention"  column  is  thus  a  truer 
index  to  the  importance  of  each  kind  of  pastime  in  the  recreational 
life  of  the  child.  For  instance.,  a  child  who  writes  of  playing  an  out- 
door game  in  both  the  afternoon  and  evening  would  count  only  as 
one  in  the  number  of  children  mentioning  outdoor  games  and  sports, 
but  this  form  of  recreation  would  figure  as  two  in  the  "mention" 
column. 

Table  II  gives  the  results  of  the  papers  in  percentages. 

TABLE  I. 
Activities  of  School  Children. 

Activities  Boys  Mention  Girls  Mention 

Outdoor  games  and  sports 437  718  291  393 

Walking,  shopping,  going  downtown 173  209  :>S7  335 

Watching,  games,  loafing  outdoors 174  184  88  91 

Home  games,  home  amusements,  clubs 68  74  104  122 

Reading    181  204  249  294 

Fancy  work,  music,  drawing,  etc 45  58  222  288 

Calling  on  friends,  talking,  loafing  indoors.  .  .  89  112  210  233 

Theaters,  picture  shows 236  267  197  231 

Gymnasiums  and  outside   clubs 29  36  34  44 

Parties,  d-ancing  school 3  3  12  13 

Home  work,  chores,  errands,  etc 298  409  400  632 

Outside  work,  office,  store,  carrying  papers, 

lamplighting    1:21  155  13  16 


RECREATION    Sl'RYKY    OF    CINCINNATI. 


11 


TABLE  II. 
Activities  of  School  Children. 


Activities                                                                           ^ 

Outdoor  games  and  sports  
\Valking,  shopping,  going  downtown  

Percentage  of 
'umber  of  Papers 
Boys          Girls 
72.5          49.4 
29.4          48.8 
29.5          14.9 
11.5          17.6 
30.7          42.3 
7.6          37.6 
16.8          35.6 
40.            33.4 
5.               5.7 
0.5            2. 
50.6          67.9 

30.7            2.2 

\Vatching  games    loafing  outdoors 

Home  games,  home  amusements,  clubs.. 
Reading 

Fancy  work,  music,  drawing,  etc  
Calling  on  friends,  talking,  loafing  indoors 
Theaters,  picture  shows  
Gymnasium  ?nd  outdoor  clubs.  .    .  . 

Parties,  dancing  school  '  
Home  work,  chores,  errands    etc 

Outside     work,     office,    store,     carrying 
naners.  lambli&rhtincf  . 

Percentage  of  Mentions 


Boys 

Girls 

29.7 

14.5 

8.6 

12.5 

7.5 

3.4 

3.1 

4.5 

8.5 

10.9 

2.4 

10.8 

4.5 

8.7 

11. 

8.6 

1.2 

1.6 

.2 

.3 

16.9 

23.6 

6.4 


.(•» 


100.0        100.0 

As  care  was  taken  to  select  papers  written  by  children  living 
in  all  parts  of  the  city,  the  following  facts  are  true  regarding  the 
average  Cincinnati  child. 

Work  After  School  Hours. 

23.3  per  cent  of  a  boy's  and  24.2  per  cent  of  a  girl's  time  out 
of  school  hours  is  occupied  with  some  form  of  work.  This  Avork 
for  both  boys  and  girls  is  usually  in  the  nature  of  housework,  run- 
ning errands,  going  to  market  or  the  grocery,  assisting  with  the 
dinner,  or  scrubbing  floors  and  steps.  Some  write  of  helping  in  the 
store  or  shop,  watching  the  younger  children,  and  the  boys  speak 
of  selling  papers,  shining  shoes  and  driving  on  delivery  wagons. 
One  little  fellow  complains :  "Had  to  saw  wood  nearly  every  ten 
minutes  (seemed  to  me),  and  had  to  go  to  the  store  nearly  every 
time  I  got  my  wheel  out  to  ride."  A  girl  writes  of  having  nothing 
to  tell  of  what  she  did  for  fun  outside  of  school  last  week,  as  she 
had  no  time  to  play. 

Home  Recreation. 

Even  if  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  reading,  fancy  work,  music 
and  drawing  are  home  recreation,  only  14  per  cent  of  the  recrea- 
tional life  of  the  boy  and  26.2  per  cent  of  that  of  the  girl  is  filled  by 
home  amusements.  Of  the  games  played  indoors,  checkers,  authors, 
and  similar  card  games  are  mentioned.  One  girl  writes  of  ''playing 
house  in  the  attic." 

Reading. 

Both  boys  and  girls  are  fond  of  reading.  A  few  notes  were 
made  while  classifying  the  papers  of  books  which  were  mentioned. 
Fairy  tales  are  popular  with  both  boys  and  girls.  One  boy  writes : 
"I  go  to  the  Public  Library  and  get  me  a  book  about  war  or  fairy 
tales."  Bovs  also  are  fond  of  history,  and  both  bovs  and  skirls  like 


12  RECREATION   SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

tales  of  adventure.  One  boy  writes :  "When  I  got  home  I  read  the 
'Literary  Digest'  and  the  'Appeal  to  Reason/  "  while  yet  another 
tells,  "When  I  came  home  I  sat  down  and  read  about  Harry  Thaw." 
A  girl  writes :  "I  read  'Vanity  Fair'  and  liked  it  very  much.  Later 
I  saw  it  in  the  moving  pictures." 

Moving  Pictures. 

Moving  pictures  provide  11  per  cent  of  the  recreation  of  boys 
and  8.8  per  cent  of  that  of  girls. 

Attendance  at  moving  picture  theaters  is  mentioned  much  more 
frequently  by  the  children  living  in  the  congested  districts.  A  girl 
writes,  "I  go  to  the  picture  show  about  three  times  a  week,"  and  a 
boy,  "After  I  eat  my  supper,  I  ask  my  father  for  a  dime  to  go  to 
the  show."  Another  says,  "On  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings  I 
generally  go  to  the  show." 

Some  of  the  children  went  into  detail  as  to  the  story  shown  in 
the  picture  films.  A  boy  writes :  "I  saw  the  'Glove  and  the  Lion,' 
which  pleased  me  very  much,  because  last  year  in  the  Sixth  Grade 
it  was  in  our  readers." 

Other  films  are  not  as  healthfully  amusing.  A  boy  tells :  "They 
had  about  the  'Jail  Bird.'  There  was  a  man  who  had  a  wife  and  a 
little  girl.  When  the  man  went  to  his  office,  his  wife  telephoned 
another  man  whom  she  loved.  But  a  friend  of  the  man's  wife  saw 
.them,  and  went  and  told  it  to  him  what  she  had  done.  He  didn't 
want  to  believe  it.  Then  the  man  took  a  revolver  and  shot  that 
man  dead  whom  his  wife  loved.  He  was  sentenced  for  ten  years. 
When  they  were  working,  Prisoner  13  told  him  to  escape,  and  he  did 
so.  When  he  was  over,  the  other  one  wanted  to  get  over  the  wall,  too  ; 
but  the  stick  broke  and  he  was  captured.  He  had  many  adventures 
until  he  was  set  free.  In  the  evening  I  went  to  another  show." 
Another  paper  tells:  "In  the  evening,  I  make  my  lessons  and  then 
go  to  the  nickel  theater  .and  see  a  fine  show.  .  .  .  The  picture  was 
about  John  Bunny  as  a  woman.  The  other  one  was  about  a  robber 
entering  a  house  and  stealing  silverware  and  gold  and  other  jewels 
while  the  people  were  sleeping.  In  the  morning  when  they  looked 
for  their  jewels  and  silverware  they  were  gone.  They  notified  the 
police,  and  they  came  and  looked  for  the  thief,  but  could  not  find 
any  one." 

Outdoor  Games. 

Outdoor  games  secure  from  the  boy  greater  interest  than  any 
other  form  of  recreational  activity.  Boys  think  twice  as  much  of 
outdoor  sports  as  girls  do,  while  the  girls  in  turn  better  enjoy  quiet 
sociability,  and  think  twice  as  much  as  boys  of  talking  to  and  call- 
ing on  friends,  and  nearly  three  times  as  much  of  inactive  recrea- 
tional occupations. 

In  tabulating  the  papers,  outdoor  games  and  sports  were  given 
the  broadest  possible  interpretation.  Every  form  of  outdoor  fun 
was  classified  under  this  head.  Frequent  mention  is  made,  however, 


RECREATION   SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI.  18 

by  both  boys  and  girls,  of  group  games.  Hop-skotch,  blind  man's 
bluff,  hat  thief,  puss-in-the-corner,  steps,  and  go-sheepy-go,  seem 
popular.  Quite  a  large  number  of  children,  including  those  living 
in  the  downtown  districts,  speak  of  walking  to  Eden  Park  and 
Burnet  Woods  and  other  woody  places  to  gather  buckeyes. 

An  interest  in  games  imitating  activities  of  primitive  life  is 
occasionally  expressed.  A  boy  writes  of  "building  a  furnace  on  the 
hill."  Another  says,  "In  the  afternoon  I  played  'Indians  and  Cow- 
boys' in  the  woods."  And  yet  another,  "I  went  down  to  the  bottoms 
and  helped  the  boys  put  a  stove  in  our  tree-house,"  while  a  girl 
tells  of  helping  "build  a  fort  for  the  younger  boys." 

Lack  of  Outdoor  Play  Space. 

Mention  is  sometimes  made  of  the  lack  of  outdoor  play  space. 
One  boy,  who  does  not  even  live  in  a  congested  neighborhood, 
writes :  "It  seems  just  about  the  time  we  begin  (playing  ball  in  a 
side  street),  the  policeman  comes  and  chases  us  away.  If  we  go 
.in  the  neighboring  lot  or  field  the  owners  are  after  us.  If  we  play 
football,  the  people  come  out,  and  we  have  to  get  away  or  they 
send  for  a  policeman.  After  school  Thursday  we  were  playing 
'Slim  Jim'  in  a  lot,  and  the  policeman  came  and  took  our  names  in 
his  book,  and  said,  'If  we  don't  stay  out  of  the  lot,  he  would  take 
us  down  to  the  Juvenile  Court.'  Where  would  you  advise  us  to 
play?" 

Conclusion. 

Boys  need  to  be  provided  with  better  opportunities  for  outdoor 
play,  and  girls  with  facilities  for  wholesome  sociability. 


14 


RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 


II.  OBSERVATIONS  OF  CHILDREN  OUT  OF  DOORS. 

A  further  study  was  made  of  children's  recreational  activity  by 
making  observations  of  what  they  were  doing  out  of  doors.  Three 
sections  of  the  city  were  selected  for  intensive  study,  and  these 
"Soundings"*  were  visited  during  the  afternoon  and  evening  and  the 
number,  age,  sex  and  occupation  of  the  children  noted.  Table  III 
gives  the  results  of  this  -study. 


TABLE  III. 
Observation  of  Children  Out  of  Doors. 


What  the  Children  Were  Doing 


Sounding 
No.       Per  Ct. 


Working     49         13 

Playing 173          46 

Doing  nothing 149         41 


Total 


371 


Sounding 

No.  Per  Ct. 

78  16 

191  38 

231  46 

500 


No. 

20 

100 

133 

253= 


Sounding 
Per  Ct. 


8 

40 
52 


Ages  of  Children  — 

Under  6  .....................  26  7 

6  to  10  .....................  132  35 

10  to  15  .....................  176  49 

15  to  18  .....................  37  9 

Over  18  ....................  0  .      0 

Number  of  children  in  near- 

est playground  ..........  500 

Area  of  playground  .........  1.77  acres 


50 
165 
247 

38 
0 


10 
33 

50 


31 

79 
125 

18 
0 


13 
29 
50 

8 
0 


900  No  playground 

(2  playgrounds) 
2.21  acres 


Children  Who  Are  Doing  Nothing. 

Of  the  1,124  children  and  young  people  observed  out  of  doors 
only  41  per  cent  were  playing,  while  45  per  cent  were  doing  noth- 
ing. The  habitual  difficulty  of  engaging  in  active  play  in  congested 
districts  may  be  a  partial  cause  for  this  waste  of  opportunity  for 
profitable  relaxation  and  pleasure.  Another  reason  may  be  lack  of 
imagination  in  conceiving  recreational  activities  or  lack.  of  initiative 
in  prosecuting  them.  In  all  events,  idleness  has  no  recreational 
value,  and  the  child  who  is  doing  nothing  because  he  does  not  know 
what  to  do  easily  falls  into  mischievous  habits.  Play  leadership 
would  probably  materially  check  this  enervating  idleness  and  be  a 
strong  preventive  of  juvenile  delinquency.  More,  boys  than  girls 
were  doing  nothing",  and  50  per  cent  of  the  children  observed  were 
between  ten  and  fifteen  years  of  age.  It  is  significant  with  regard 
to  this  fact  that  47  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  children  brought 
before  the  Juvenile  Court'1'  are  between  ten  and  fifteen  years  of  age. 

*  Sounding    I    (12    blocks)    bounded    by    Cutter,    Freeman,    Richmond    and    Barr    streets. 
Sounding  II   (9  blocks)   bounded  by  Liberty,  Findlay,   Central  and  Race  streets.     Sounding  III 
(8  blocks)  bounded  by  Celectial,  Ida,  Monastery,  Lock  and  Third  streets. 

**  Many  of  the  children  in  Sounding  III  play  along  the  railroad  tracks  just  to  the  west 
of  it,  or  go  down  to  the  river;  and  this  accounts  for  the  smaller  number  of  children  observed 
in  that  locality. 

*  Juvenile  Court  Report  for  1912. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  15 

Lack  of  Playgrounds. 

Play  leadership,  such  as  was  suggested  above,  is  found  in  the 
playgrounds.  No  playgrounds,  however,  were  located  in  the  three 
Soundings :  Sinton  Park  adjoined  Sounding  I  on  the  east,  and 
Hanna  and  McKinley  playgrounds  were  about"  equally  distant  from 
Sounding  II,  while  no  playgrounds  were  near  enough  to  Sounding 
III  to  be  counted  as  neighboring  on  it.  These  playgrounds,  how- 
ever, were  found  to  be  well  filled  with  children  from  their  immediate 
neighborhoods,  and  could  not  possibly  accommodate  the  number 
of  children  whom  observation  showed  needed  direction  in  play.  To 
adequately  reach  such  children  play  leaders  would  have  to  be  placed 
in  charge  of  the  streets  themselves,  as  has  been  done  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  Baltimore  and  other  cities. 

III.     RECREATIONAL  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULTS. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  ascertain  the  recreational  activities 
of  adults  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  children  were  secured.  A 
study  of  the  following  chapters,  however,  describing  the  extent  and 
facilities  of  the  various  forms  of  recreation,  will  give  some  idea  of 
the  importance  of  the  different'kinds  of  pleasure  in  the  life  of  every 
individual  of  the  community. 


SECTION    B.      THE    VARIOUS    FORMS    OF    RECREATION. 

There  are  four  different  kinds  of  recreation ;  namely,  home 
recreation,  or  the  pastimes  enjoyed  in  or  under  the  supervision  of 
the  home ;  private  recreation,  or  the  diversions  provided  through 
co-operative  or  philanthropic  effort ;  commercial  recreation,  or  the 
amusements  furnished  on  a  commercial  basis;  and  public  recreation, 
or  the  recreation  supplied  by  the  government  for  the  benefit  of  all 
members  of  the  community.  This  section  of  the  report  discusses 
the  existing  facilities  and  value  of  each  of  these  four  forms  of 
recreation. 

I.     HOME  RECREATION. 

Home  recreation  is,  of  course,  the  best  kind  of  recreation  for 
both  the  adult  and  the  child.  •  It  lends  itself  to  family  solidarity,  to 
the  safeguarding  of  the  pleasures  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
family  by  the  kindly  supervision  of  their  natural  guardians. 

For  home  recreation  to  be  possible,  however,  there  must  be  in 
the  home  a  certain  chance  for  privacy  for  each  individual  in  the 
family  group  and  a  certain  amount  of  space  which  will  permit  for 
active  or  even  passive  plav. 

Density  of  Population  by  Wards. 

An  approximate  indication,  therefore,  of  the  facilities  for  home 
recreation  is  secured  by  a  study  of  the  density  of  population  by 
wards.  Table  IV  gives  this  information.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
one-third  of  the  twenty-six  wards  have  a  density  of  population  from 


16 


RECREATION   SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 


six  to  thirteen  times  as  great  as  the  density  of  population  of  the 
whole  city.  The  neighboring  Fifteenth  and  the  Seventh  wards  are 
the  most  congested  in  the  city.  The  density  of  the  Seventh  Ward 
is  even  greater  than  is  indicated,  because  a  portion  of  its  small  area 
is  taken  up  by  Music  Hall,  Washington  Park  and  the  Canal.  The 
Sixteenth  and  Tenth  wards  come  next  for  density ;  the  congestion 
in  the  latter  is  largely  in  the  southern  portion  adjoining  the  Seventh 
Ward. 

TABLE  IV. 
Density  of  Population. 


Ward 


Area  in  Acres    Population* 


1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 


6,900 

3,580 

1,380 

720 

220 

260 

115 

460 

610 

165 

500 

310 

3,560 

170 

110 

-  160 

520 

240" 

1,660 


20  ......................  ........   3,250 


21 
22 
23 

24 
25 


175 

870 

1,440 

4,500 

6,510 


26  6,520 


Total  44,905 


17,728 
21,345 
20,404 
15,764 
14,216 
15,396 
12,7.60 
13,980 
15,052 
15,001 
17,579 
16,807 
12,936 
15,287 
14,290 
16,264 
13,646 
14,965 
17,781 
19,288 
14,600 
11,728 
15,284 
15,196 
12,256 
8,800 

398,353 


Population 
Per  Acre 


2.5 

5.9 
14.7 
21.9 
64.5 
59.1 
110.9 
30.3 
24.6 
90.9 
35.1 
54.2 

3.6 

89.3 

129.9 

101.5 

26.2 

62.3 

10.4 

5.9 
83.4 
13.4 
10.9 

3. 

1.9 

1.3 


Population  Per 
Acre  above  or 

below  City  aver- 
age of  8.8  per- 
sons per  Acre. 

fi.3 — 

2.9— 

5.9+ 

13.1+ 

56.2+ 

50.3+ 

102.1+ 

32.5+ 

15.8+ 

82.1+ 

26.3+ 

45.4+ 

5.2— 

80.5+ 

121.1+ 

92.7+ 

17.4+ 

53.5+ 

1.6+ 

2.9— 

74.6+ 

4.6+ 

2.1+ 

5.8 — 

7.1 — 


Housing  Study  with  Reference  to  the  Possibility  for  Home  Recrea- 
tion. 

To  ascertain  further  the  possibility  for  home  recreation,  a  house- 
to-house  study  was  made  in  a  part  of  each  of  the  Soundings  already 
described. 

In  Sounding  I  the  investigation  covered  four  blocks  (bounded 
by  Linn,  Eighth,  Freeman  and  Barr  streets)  ;  in  Sounding  II,  seven 
blocks  (bounded  by  Findlay,  Logan,  Green,  Pleasant,  Liberty  and 
Central  Avenue)  ;  in  Sounding  III,  six  blocks  (bounded  by  Lock, 
East  Third,  Oregon,  and  East  Fifth  street).  The  result  of  this  in- 
vestigation has  been  summarized  in  Table  V. 


Figures  supplied  by  the  Board  of  Elections,  October,   1913. 


RECREATION   SURVEY   OF   CINCINNATI.  17 

TABLE   V. 

Study  of  Home  Conditions. 

Sounding      Sounding     Sounding 
I.  II.  III. 

Number  of  homes 3  1G        .        12 

Number  of  tenements 61  96  150 

Number   of  individuals 614  826  1681 

Number  of  families 128  171  374 

Average  number  of  families  to  a  tenement 3  5  3 

Average  number  of  rooms  to  a  family 3  3  2 

Average  number  of  people  to  a  family 5  5  4.5 

Average  number  of  people  to  a  room 1.7  1.7  2.3 

Average  number  of  children  under  15  to  a  family.  .  .  2  2  2 

It  can  be  readily  seen  from  these  figures  that  home  recreation 
is  practically  impossible.  No  such  thing  as  a  living  room  was  found 
by  the  investigator  except  in  the  few  "homes"  noted.  Even  in  those 
rooms  which  by  better  furnishing  or  arrangement  seemed  to  be 
pressed  into  service  as  a  center  for  the  social  activities  of  the  family, 
none  were  found  without  the  folding  bed  or  couch,  which  showed 
for  what  purpose  they  were  really  used.  No  child  could  play  any- 
thing but  the  quietest  of  games  at  home  under  such  circumstances, 
arid  for  the  young  girl  and  the  youth  to  receive  their  friends  with  the 
rest  of  the  family  crowded  about,  and  younger  children  underfoot, 
is  impossible. 

These  tenement  homes,  moreover,  are  often  dreary  and  un- 
attractive. Few  of  them  provide  those  mechanical  means  for  enter- 
tainment which  are  such  important  accessories  to  the  successful 
social  intercourse  of  youth.  In  Sounding  I  only  five  per  cent  of  the 
homes  had  pianos  and  two  per  cent  had  talking  machines  or  musical 
instruments.  In  Sounding  II  only  one  per  cent  of  the  homes  were 
provided  with  pianos  and  one  per  cent  with  talking  machines  or 
musical  instruments,  and  in  Sounding  III  two  per  cent  had  pianos 
and  five  per  cent  had  musical  instruments  or  talking  machines. 

Outdoor  Home  Recreation. 

Play  in  private  yards,  being  under  direct  supervision,  is  another 
form  of  home  recreation.  The  extent  of  this  outdoor  home  recrea- 
tion is,  of  course,  circumscribed  by  the  adequacy  of 'physical  facili- 
ties. To  determine  the  amount  of  private  outdoor  play  space,  an 
engineer  was  employed  to  survey  the  three  Soundings.  Table  VI. 
gives  the  results  of  his  study. 


18 


RECREATION   SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 


TABLE  VI. 
Outdoor  Play  Space. 


General  Distribution  of  Land. 

Street   and  alleys 

Other  land  . 


Sounding 
Acres        Per  Ct. 


Sounding 
Acres         Per  Ct. 


Sounding 

III. 
Acres       Per  Ct. 


17.8 
33.3 


Total  .  51.1 


52 

48 

100 


15.5 
19.6 

35.1 


79 
21 


100 


9.4 
30.6 

40. 


30 
70 


100 


Distribution  of  Land  Not  in  Streets  and  Alleys. 

Usuable  for  play 59 

Usable  for  play  but   grading 

needed    

Not  usable  for  play 

Lawns,  play  not  allowed. .  .  . 


.24 

None 
1.5 

.35 


None 

None 
None 
None 


Storage   yards 

Occupied  by  houses  and  inter- 
spaces less  than  25x25  ft. ..     20.48 


.5 
19.1 


None 
1. 

9  2* 

No  laws  of 
•any  size 
.2 

About  27.2 


It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  opportunities  for  outdoor 
home  play  practically  do  not  exist  in  three  neighborhoods  selected 
so  as  to  represent  the  conditions  under  which  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  Cincinnati  live.  This  condition  increases  the  significance 
of  the  fact,  previously  noted,  of  the  large  number  of  children  and 
young  people  who  loaf  about  the  streets  with  nothing  to  do.  Suf- 
ficient public  play  space  and  the  leadership  and  "supervision  already 
suggested  would  remedy  this  serious  state  of  affairs.  How  ade- 
quately Cincinnati  is  provided  with  public  playgrounds  will  be  dis- 
cussed under  the  chapter  on  Public  Recreation. 

Letters  to  School  Principals. 

To  estimate  the  home  conditions  in  all  parts  of  the  city  along 
the  lines  indicated  by  the  intensive  studies  just  described,  a  letter 
was  sent  to  the  principals  of  forty-five  public  schools  of  the  city, 
requesting  them  to  answer  the  following  questions : 

1.  In  your   opinion  what   are  the  general  home   conditions  of  the 
majority  of  your  pupils? 

2.  What  facilities  and  opportunities  have  your  pupils  for  recreation 
in  their  own  homes? 

3.  When  there  is  opportunity  and  facility  for  recreation  at  home, 
do  many  parents  pay  proper  attention  to  recreation  for  the  chil- 
dren? 

4.  How  many  of  the  children  have  yards  in  which  they  can  play? 
Approximately,  what  per  cent? 

5.  Any  other  information  which  you  can   give  us  along  the   same 
lines  will  be  of  value  to  us. 

The  twenty  replies  received  are  tabulated  in  Table  VII. 


*  Steep  hillside. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 


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RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  2J 

Conclusion. 

The  facilities  for  home  recreation  are  poor  for  the  majority  of 
the  people.  This  condition  forces  the  child  into  the  unsupervised 
street  to  play,  and  makes  the  youth  and  adult  dependent  on  com- 
mercial recreation  and  other  outside  sources  for  their  diversion. 
Healthy  family  life  centers  in  similarity  of  interests,  and  is  impaired 
when  recreation  becomes  an  individual  and  not  a  social  concern  to 
members  of  the  family  group.  In  other  words,  the  most  serious 
result  of  the  lack  of  opportunity  for  recreation  at  home  is  that  it 
places  the  individual  beyond  the  family's  moral  control. 

II.     PRIVATE  RECREATION. 
Social  Clubs. 

A  definite  part  of  the  social  life  of  the  community  is  furnished 
by  co-operative  neighborhood  clubs.  They  are  most  frequently 
organizations  of  young  men  who  join  together  for  the  purpose  of 
sociability  and  the  giving  of  entertainments.  Some  of  these  clubs, 
under  the  guise  of  seeking  pleasure  for  their  members,  are  organi- 
zations for  the  promotion  of  public  dances  for  the  sake  of  profit. 
Most  of  the  dances  at  the  worst  dance  halls  in  Cincinnati  are  given 
as  such  club  affairs,  although  the  general  public  is  admitted. 

The  Directory  of  1913  gives  a  list  of  190  "Pleasure,"  "Social," 
"Outing"  and  "Fishing"  clubs,  while  a  further  list  from  the  Mayors 
office  brings  the  number  up  to  214.  If  to  these  are  added  the  choral 
and  singing  societies  which  are  often  organized  along  -social  lines, 
and  the  bowling  clubs,  there  are  356  co-operative  organizations  re- 
corded. Fraternal  and  similar  organizations  are  excluded  from  this 
count,  as  well  as  the  many  mutual  benefit  associations,  which  very 
often  give  social  affairs,  and  the  many  small  clubs  of  which  there  is 
no  record. 

A  letter  was  sent  out  to  100  of  these  clubs  asking  for  general 
information  as  to  their  membership  and  purpose.  Only  fifteen  re- 
plies were  received.  These  fifteen  clubs  report  a  total  membership 
of  580  men.  The  minimum  age  limit  in  all  but  one  instance  was 
21  years,  and  the  majority  of  their  members  are  reported  to  be 
between  21  and  40  years  of  age.  Only  three  of  the  clubs  report  the 
giving  of  dances  since  January  1,  1913;  outings,  socials,  picnics,  boat 
excursions,  entertainments  and  parties  were  mentioned.  From 
records  at  the  Mayors  office,  it  was  found  that  337  dances  were 
given  by  social  clubs  and  several  church  organizations  from  January 
1,  1913,"  to  September  10,  1913. 

Several  of  the  co-operative  clubs  have  their  own  club  rooms; 
a  large  number  of  them,  however,  meet  in  connection  with  cafes  and 
saloons.  The  recreational  value  of  these  clubs  is  probably  good 
except  in  those  instances  where  the  club  is  used  as  a  cloak  for  the 
promoting  of  vicious  pleasure. 


22  RECREATION   SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

Athletic  Organizations. 

Athletic  organizations  supply  a  splendid  form  of  recreation,  par- 
ticularly for  young  men.  Information  as  to  the  total  number  of 
athletic  clubs  in  the  city  was  not  obtainable.  The  Department  of 
Physical  Training  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Men's  Club  of  Christ 
Church,  the  Advent  Memorial  Club,  the  St.  Paul  Gymnasium  and 
Athletic  Club,  and  the  Cincinnati  Gymnasium  and  Athletic  Club 
report  a  total  membership  of  4,825  boys  and  men.  Some  of  these 
athletic  organizations  are  part  of  the  recreation  work  of  philan- 
thropic agencies,  which  is  described  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

Considerable  athletic  activity  is  carried  on  among  public  school 
children  under  the  auspices  of  a  Games  Committee.  Last  February 
an  indoor  meet  was  held  at  Music  Hall  in  which  there  were  nearly 
500  entries.  Four  field  meets  were  held  in  June,  with  a  total  of  601 
entries,  excluding  the  children  taking  part  in  relay  races.  Every  fall 
an  Athletic  Button  Contest  is  held  in  all  the  schools,  and  each  school 
does  its  own  work  on  its  own  grounds.  Last  year  307  boys  and  228 
girls  qualified  for  the  Athletic  Buttons.  Soccer  football  is  also  ex- 
tensively played,  but  great  difficulty  is  experienced  by  the  team  in 
finding  facilities  to  play  the  game,  as  grounds  are  hard  to  secure, 
and  the  park  playgrounds  do  not  provide  for  soccer  or  association 
football. 

Base  Ball  Teams. 

In  the  summer  one  of  the  most  active  forms  of  recreation  among 
men  and  boys  is  baseball.  Aside  from  professional  baseball,  which 
has  a  National  League  club  here,  there  are  a  large  number  of  ama- 
teur teams  among  men  and  boys.  The  largest  booking  agency  in 
the  city  reports  that  over  50  teams  were  playing  baseball  every 
Saturday  and  over  150  teams  every  Sunday ;  that  the  National  Amer- 
ican Amateur  League  has  16  teams  and  the  Church  League  has  three 
teams.  In  all  it  is  estimated  that  about  1,850  men  and  boys  play 
baseball  in  these  regularly  organized  teams  on  Saturdays  and  Sun- 
days. In  addition,  there  were  thirty  public  school  ball  teams  with 
twelve  to  thirteen  boys  to  a  team.  These  teams  played  100  games 
during  the  season.  *  The  Catholic  churches  also  had  a  baseball 
league  composed  of  eight  teams. 

Great  difficulty  was  experienced  by  the  teams  in  securing  grounds 
on  Saturday.  Because  of  this  fact  most  of  the  Sunday  games  of  the 
National  Amateur  League  and  other  leagues  are  played  out  of  town, 
but  on  Saturday  the  men  and  boys  work  until  noon  and  must  con- 
sequently play  in  the  city.  Private  grounds  are  often  prohibitive  in 
price,  $10.00  for  an  afternoon,  and  public  athletic  fields  are  altogether 
inadequate. 

Philanthropic  Agencies. 

Philanthropic  agencies  and  churches,  realizing  of  late  the  neces- 
sity for  healthful  recreation  in  a  well-rounded  life,  have  provided 
various  forms  of  recreation  as  a  part  of  their  social  or  parish  work. 
To  ascertain  the  extent  and  character  of  the  recreational  facilities 
which  these  social  organizations  offer,  and  the  number  of  young 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  23 

people  they  reach,  the  following  questions  were  sent  to  every  philan- 
thropic and  social  agency  in  Cincinnati,  whose  purpose  might  even 
remotely  include  a  recreation  program,  and  to  all  of  the  churches, 
which  during  the  winter  of  1912-1913  replied  to  a  general  inquiry 
sent  out  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  concerning  their  recreational  activities. 

Questions  Sent  to  Philanthropic  Agencies  and  Churches. 

1.  How  many  young  people  between  the  following  ages  does  your 
recreational  work  reach? 

Boys  ......   12  to  14         14  to  16         16  to  18         18  to  21 

Girls  ......    12  to  14         14  to  16         16  to  18         18  to  21 

2.  Are  the  majority  of  the  girls  and  boys  from  14  to  16  still  attend- 
ing school,  or  are  they  working?    What  class  of  work? 

3.  Do  they  come  from  your  immediate  neighborhood?    If  not,  wrhat 
parts  of  the  city  do  they  come  from? 

4.  What  forms  of  recreation  do  you  offer?    Social  clubs?    Dancing? 
Entertainments? 

5.  How  many  nights  a  week  do  you  supply  some  form  of  recreation 
for  those  young  people? 

6.  Are  you  open  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings?     If  so,  what 
entertainments  do  you  have  then? 

7.  At  what  time  do  your  activities  close  every  night?    Are  you  open 
all  the  year  round? 

8.  What   special   activities   from   your   recreation   program   for   the 
summer  season? 

9.  What  is  the  average  attendance  of  your  clubs,  dances  and  enter- 
tainments?    Is  the  individual  boy  or  girl  allowed  to  join  more 
than  one  club  and  attend  all  the  entertainments?     Is  the  average 
attendance  of  each  boy  and  girl  more  than  one  evening  a  week? 

The  answers  received  are  hard  to  tabulate,  as  some  organiza- 
tions seem  unable  to  state  how  manv  young  people  make  use  of  their 
recreational  facilities  and  these  facilities  vary  so  in  extent  and  char- 
acter. Moreover,  the  recreational  work  of  many  of  the  churches  is 
confined  to  occasional  entertainments  and  socials. 

Number  of  Young  People  Reached. 

The  total  number  of  unmarried  youths  in  Cincinnati  from  14  to 
21  years  of  age,  according  to  the  last  school  census,  is  as  follows: 
11,159  from  14  to  16  years  of  age,  and  24,895  from  17  to  21  years 
of  age. 

The  total  number  of  young  people  reached  by  the  recreational 
work  of  the  philanthropic  organizations  and  churches,  as  reported 
by  them,  is  shown  in  Table  VIII. 

TABLE  VTTT. 

Age  Boys  Girls  Total 

]2  to  14  ........................................  :,:;i;  i.  <>:,<;  1.  :><.»:> 

14  to  16  ........................................  4:14  :;:>:,  :s<i 

16  to  18  ........................................  «»s«i  ?(>:_•  1.»)'.)1 

18  to  21  ........................................  2.4sr,  2,537  m  5.o:>:j 


Total     .  ......  .     4.445  4.650 


24  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

There  is  shown  a  decided  falling  off  in  the  attendance  of  girls 
between  14  and  18  years  of  age.  This  may  be  only  partly  accounted 
for  by  the  girls'  enrollment  at  night  school.  It  is  probably  due  in 
a  large  measure  to  the  fact  that  social  organizations  have  not  yet 
learned  the  recreational  needs  of  the  adolescent  girl.  It  was  inter- 
esting to  note  while  reading  the  replies  the  lack  of  purely  recrea- 
tional provisions  made  for  the  girl  and  the  emphasis  laid  upon  them 
for  the  boy.  The  girl  is  supposed  to  content  herself  largely  with 
sewing,  cooking  and  literary  clubs,  and  occasional  socials  and  dances 
of  a  mild  variety,  while  regular  social  club  rooms  for  the  adolescent 
boy  are  open  nightly,  if  possible,  and  equipped  for  all  sorts  of  games. 
Again,  all  kinds  of  athletic  activity  is  organized  for  him.  This  fact 
is  particularly  significant  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  study  of 
the  papers  of  school  children  (12  to  16  years  of  age)  showed  that 
girls  value  sociability  twice  as  much  as  boys. 

As  instances  of  this  tendency  to  underemphasize  the  needs  of 
the  girls  several  can  be  cited.  Four  Catholic  parishes  conduct  social 
clubs  for  .boys  from  14  to  17  years  of  age.  There  are  no  such  clubs 
for  the  girls  of  the  same  age.  Again,  fifteen  parishes  have  social 
club-rooms  for  boys  17  years  of  age  open  every  night  except 
Sunday,  while  they  provide  no  such  facilities  for  the  girls.  The 
young  men  have  pocket  billiard  leagues,  basket  ball  leagues,  and 
baseball  teams,  while  the  young  women  use  the  parish  hall  only  for 
some  specially  arranged  euchre  or  dance.  In  the  same  way  a  Protest- 
ant institutional  church  reports  a  social  clubroom  for  young  men, 
open  every  night  except  Sunday,  and  all  the  year  round,  while  the 
girls  are  provided  for  only  on  the  average  of  one  night  a  week  dur- 
ing the  winter  months. 

Sixteen  organizations  report  the  maintenance  of  gymnasiums 
and  ten  provisions  for  calisthenics.  Aside  from  the  Catholic  par- 
ishes only  three  other  organizations  report  pool  and  billiard  rooms 
and  one  a  bowling  alley.  Two  settlements  have  moving  pictures 
and  six  organizations  give  dances,  one  regularly  every  Saturday 
night.  These  dances,  however,  are  usually  for  the  young  people 
eighteen  years  of  age  and  over.  Eighteen  regularly  organized  social 
clubs  for  boys  and  four  social  clubs  for  girls  are  reported.  A  number 
of  other  boys'  organizations  exist,  such  as  the  Boy  Scouts,  with  an 
enrollment  of  400  members.  Other  forms  of  recreation  offered  are 
dramatic  clubs  and  minstrel  shows,  lectures,  choral  classes,  music, 
walking  clubs,  summer  camps  (five  for  boys  and  three  for  girls), 
river  trips,  picnics,  swimming  and  tennis. 

On  Saturday  evening,  when  the  most  young  people  try  to  find 
recreation,  very  few  places  offer  facilities  for  amusement,  and  on 
Sunday,  the  day  when  again  the  most  people  seek  diversion,  the 
social  organizations  make  practically  no  provisions  for  their  enter- 
tainment. The  Catholic  parishes  do,  indeed,  have  social  gatherings 
and  walking  trips,  and  five  other  places  have  social  hours  with  music 
and  refreshments. 

Of  course,  a  lot  of  occasional  recreation  is  provided  by  churches 
and  social  organizations  of  which  there  is  no  record.  Opportunity 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  25 

for  recreation,  however,  as  supplied  by  those  organizations  working 
for  social  welfare,  is  pitiably  small  and  cannot  in  any  way  compete 
with  commercial  recreation.  The  vast  majority  of  adolescent  boys 
and  girls,  at  the  period  when  they  are  most  impressionable  and  most 
easily  demoralized  by  vicious  influences,  must  turn  to  commercial 
recreation  to  find  those  amusements  which  they  crave  as  a  means 
of  self-expression. 

III.     COMMERCIAL  RECREATION. 

The  largest  and  most  important  facilities  for  recreation  in  any 
city  are  those  amusement  places  conducted  for  the  purpose  of  profit. 
When  the  character  of  modern  industry  forced  men  to  live  together 
in  cities,  and  crowded  housing  conditions  prevented  the  participation 
of  the  family  in  recreation  at  home,  it  was  commercial  enterprise 
alone  which  realized  the  value  of  the  people's  unsatisfied  need  for 
relaxation  and  pleasure.  Today  commercial  recreation  provides  for 
fully  two-thirds  of  the  play  life  -of  the  community. 

Up  to  very  recently  no  one  considered  whether  this  arrangement 
was  good  or  bad  ;  commercial  recreation  was  looked  upon  as  any 
other  form  of  private  business  undertaking  in  which  the  public  had 
no  concern.  Lately,  however,  a  new  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  healthy  recreation  in  virile  individual  or  community  life  has  devel- 
oped the  conviction  that  commercial  recreation  to  fill  adequately  a 
social  want  must  submit  to  social  control. 

During  the  survey,  therefore,  special  attention  was  given  to 
commercial  amusement  places  in  Cincinnati.  Their  utility  in  grati- 
fying man's  deep-rooted  play  instinct  has  been  judged  solely  on  the 
basis  of  whether  or  not  they  provided  opportunity  for  sound  and 
wholesome  pleasure.  Investigators  were  told  to  disabuse  their 
minds  of  the  idea  that  good  recreation  must  necessarily  have  an 
educational  flavor. 

All  recreation,  of  course,  whether  good  or  bad,  has  a  definite 
educational  value.  It  either  rounds  out  or  warps  character,  develops 
or  demoralizes  the  will,  stimulates  or  enervates  for  complete  living, 
but  too  long  has  play  just  for  play's  sake  been  looked  at  askance, 
and  the  recreation  provided  by  those  interested  in  human  welfare 
been  tainted  with  the  spirit  pervading  "uplift"  work.  In  the  follow- 
ing paragraphs,  therefore,  which  describe  the  various  forms  of  com- 
mercial amusement  in  our  city,  their  social  worth  has  been  estimated 
altogether  from  the  standpoint  of  their  recreational  efficiency. 

Moving  Picture  Shows. 

Foremost  in  popularity  among  the  forms  of  commercial  recrea- 
tion is  the  moving  picture  show.  In  September,  1913,  Cincinnati 
had  eighty-one  moving  picture  houses  (three  of  which  were  still  in 
the  process  of  construction)  and  six  airdomes.  The  location  and 
seating  capacity  of  the  regular  moving  picture  houses  is  shown  in 
the  following  table  : 


26  RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

Location                                                                                                                            Number  Capacity 

Downtown  business  district 13  5,797 

Downtown    residential    district 33  14,136 

Suburban   residential   district • 35  28,859 


Total    81  48,792 

The  structure  of  the  moving  picture  houses  has  improved  greatly 
in  the  last  two  years.  Through  the  activities  of  the  City  Building 
Inspection  Department  all  have  been  made  safe  in  case  of  fire.  The 
ventilation  also  has  been  materially  improved,  but  more  must  be 
done  in  that  line.  By  the  time  the  second  audience  comes  in  the 
air  is  frequently  vitiated,  and  as  the  performance  is  continuous  there 
is  no  opportunity  to  let  in  fresh  air.  Some  of  the  better  theaters 
have  moving  picture  apparatus  which  will  work  satisfactorily  in  a 
room  not  altogether  darkened,  but  the  greater  number  of  places  are 
still  insufficiently  lighted  for  proper  supervision  of  the  patrons. 

Theaters  in  the  residential  districts,  except  on  Saturdays  and 
Sundays,  usually  remain  closed  during  the  day,  and  run  from  three 
to  four  shows  in  the  evening;  the  shows  in  the  business  district  are 
open  continuously  from  9  a.  m.  to  11  p.  m.,  with  two  exceptions, 
when  the  theaters  open  at  1 :30  and  2  :30  p.  m.,  respectively.  Admis- 
sion is  usually  five  cents,  and  a  few  houses  charge  ten  cents  for  adults 
and  a  nickel  for  children. 

During  the  survey  an  actual  count  of  the  attendance  at  sixty- 
three  of  the  moving  picture  theaters  was  made  on  a  Monday  early 
in  October,  and  it  was  found  that  they  were  patronized  by  55,593 
persons  in  one  day.  The  combined  seating  capacity  of  these  theaters 
was  25,796,  the  attendance  a  little  over  two  persons  to  a  seat.  Not 
counting  the  incompleted'  theaters,  or  five  picture  shows  which  were 
found  closed  on  the  day  of  the  investigation,  on  this  average  of  two 
persons  to  a  seat,  44,636  people  went  to  the  theaters  which  were  not 
covered  in  the  count.  This  means  that  a  total  of  100,229  persons, 
or  over  one-fourth  of  the  city's  population,  attended  moving  picture 
shows  in  one  day.  On  this  basis,  701,603  people  enjoy  this  form  of 
amusement  in  one  week ;  a  conservative  estimate,  as  it  does  not 
allow  for  the  extra  shows  and  larger  audiences  on  Saturdays  and 
Sundays. 

While  the  investigators  were  taking  the  count,  facts  were  noted 
in  many  instances  concerning  the  attendance  of  children  and  young 
people  and  the  character  of  the  films  which  were  shown. 

Character  of  Audience. 

A  large  majority  of  the  people  who  make  up  moving  picture  day- 
time audiences  are  adult  men.  An  occasional  woman  on  her  way 
from  shopping  or  market,  sometimes  accompanied  by  little  children  ; 
a  small  number  of  boys  and  youths,  and  a  few  young  girls  about 
fifteen  years  of  age  (evidently  out  of  work  or  playing  truant  from 
school),  who  come  to  the  theater  in  the  hope  of  picking  up  new 
acquaintances,  are  the  other  patrons.  During  the  noon  hour  this 
order  varies  for  a  little  while  and  the  places  are  crowded  with  young 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  27 

people  from  store  and  factory  and  youths  from  the  downtown  high 
school.  In  the  evening  the  character  of  the  audience  changes  again 
and  the  theaters  in.  the  business  district  have  evenly  mixed  audi- 
ences, while  in  the  residential  districts  the  audiences  are  often  largely 
composed  of  women  and  children.  About  33  per  cent  of  these  audi- 
ences were  under  21  years  of  age,  about  11  per  cent  of  whom  were 
under  10  years  of  age.  The  children,  however,  were  found  in  attend- 
ance chiefly  at  the  early  performances,  and  were  noticed  in  only 
small  numbers  at  the  last  show. 

Character  of  Films. 

The  character  of  the  filnijs.  shown,  except  in  three  instances,  was 
unobjectionable  and  provided  clean  recreation.  The  subjects  were 
usually  melodramatic  or  of  a  comic  or  farcical  nature.  The  Wild 
West  pictures  are  still  popular,. although  not  seen  as  frequently  as 
formerly.  Films  of  distinctly  educational  and  of  high  recreational 
value  are  frequently  shown.  Slides  of  events  of  current  interest, 
pictures  of  noted  people,  interesting  views  of  foreign  places  are  often 
seen  as  part  of  the  program,  while  standard  plays  given  by  good 
actors  are  now  being  performed  for  audiences  of  the  moving  picture 
theater.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  quality  of  recreation  of- 
fered by  the  moving  picture  show  has  vastly  improved  in  the  last 
few  years,  and  is  still  improving. 

The  objectionable  films  referred  to  above  showed  a  coarse 
gambling  scene ;  another  revolved  around  the  life  of  a  dope  fiend ; 
the  last  gave  a  suggestive  story  of  the  life  of  a  bad  woman.  It  is 
the  possibility  of  films  of  this  character  being  produced,  which,  of 
course,  detracts  from  the  recreational  value  of  moving  pictures,  par- 
ticularly where  children  are  concerned.  In  them  is  especially  strong 
that  desire  to  participate  passively  in  experiences  of  life  beyond 
their  everyday  routine,  and  active  suggestions  of  evil  acts  or  vivid 
examples  of  demoralizing  habits  cannot  but  react  on  character 
development. 

Posters. 

The  posters  displayed  outside  of  the  theaters  cannot  be  as  fa- 
vorably commented  on  as  the  films.  In  most  instances  they  are 
sensational,  drawn  on  exaggerated  lines  and  luridly  colored.  The 
films  which  they  advertise  are  usually  harmless  enough;  the  posters 
always  exceed  the  performance.  The  number  of  children  which 
crowd  the  entrances  of  the  picture  shows  each  evening,  particularly 
in  the  residential  districts,  cannot  be  benefited  or  wholesomely  en- 
tertained bv  a  study  of  a  poster  portraying  in  lurid  colors  a  woman 
of  nearly  life  size  sprawling  over  a  prostrate  man  ;  or  of  a  woman 
in  a  man's  bathing  suit  extended  full  length  in  the  act  of  diving; 
or  of  men  stabbing  each  other,  or  similar  subjects. 

Supervision. 

For  several  years  most  of  the  films  shown  in  the  United  States 
have  been  censored  by  a  voluntary  committee  known  as  the  National 
of  Censors.     Ohio  last  vear  created  an  official   State   Board 


.28  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

which  must  pass  upon  each  film.  This  step  is  undoubtedly  a  good 
one  if  the  board  is  broad  in  its  views  of  what  constitutes  healthy 
entertainment. 

Conclusions. 

The  moving  picture  shows  as  a  whole  serve  the  public  well  in 
providing  good  recreation.  To  absolutely  safeguard  the  people  from 
abuse  from  this  form  of  commercial  amusement,  however,  certain 
improvements  in  our  method  of  control  should  be  made: 

1.  A  list  of  the  rejected  films  and  of  the  films  in  which  the  elimina- 
tion of  certain  sections  has  been  ordered  should  be  mailed  by  the 
State  Censorship  Board  to  some  competent  organization  in  each 
community  for  checking  purposes. 

2.  The  proprietor  of  moving  picture  shows  ought  to  be  compelled 
by  law  to  keep  the  theater  auditorium  sufficiently  lighted,  and 
to  install  the  proper  moving  picture  apparatus,  if  necessary,  to 
enable  him  to  do  so.     This  would  facilitate  proper  ventilation  of 
the  theaters. 

3."  The  censorship  of  picture  films  ought  to  be  extended  to  posters 
advertising  them.  They  are  seen  by  more  people,  and  afford 
opportunity  for  longer  perusal.  The  co-operation  of  the  Motion 
Picture  Exhibitor's  League  ought  to  be  secured  to  that  end. 

Theaters. 

There  are  eleven  theaters  in  Cincinnati ;  ten  are  located  in  the 
downtown  business  district  and  one  in  the  suburbs.  The  type  of 
theaters  and  the  total  seating  capacity  is  shown  in  the  following 
table : 

Seating 
Type  Number          Capacity 

Drama   (legitimate) 4  7,240 

V-audeville 3  4,077 

Burlesque 3  4,01.3 

*Melodrama    .  1  1,800 


Total    11  17,739 

During  the  survey  no  study  was  made  of  the  legitimate  drama. 
In  such  investigations  so  much  depends  on  the  point  of  view  of  the 
investigator  in  determining  the  recreational  value  of  a  play  that  any 
conclusions  arrived  at  cannot  have  real  weight.  The  moral  phi- 
losophy is  too  subtle,  dramatic  interpretation  too  complex  to  permit 
a  definite  classification.  Visits  were  made,  however,  to  the  vaude- 
ville and  burlesque  houses.  .  The  type  of  performance  which  they 
give  is  more  crude  and  the  dramatic  presentation  more  elemental 
in  character,  so  that  it  is  easier  to  determine  the  recreational  merits 
of  the  entertainment  offered. 

Two  of  the  vaudeville  theaters  usually  provide  excellent  amuse- 
ment. On  the  whole,  the  entertainment  is  clean  fun.  The  third 
vaudeville  theater  gives  performances  of  low  character  and  extreme 


Changed  into  a  moving  picture  and  vaudeville  theater  November   16,   1913. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  29 

vulgarity.  This  house  is  patronized  by  prostitutes,  and  sexually 
suggestive  acts  and  speeches  cater  to  the  low  moral  desires  of  the 
audience.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  audiences  of  this  theater, 
which  has  a  seating  capacity  of  1,400,  are  largely  composed  of  young 
men  whose  mind  and  morals  must  be  degraded  by  witnessing  such 
a  vicious  form  of  entertainment. 

Two  of  the  burlesque  houses  are  uniformly  bad.  The  whole 
performance  is  of  the  crudest  type  and  provides  only  a  shallow  shell 
for  suggestive  acts  and  speeches  to  excite  the  sex  instincts  of  the 
audience.  Very  rarely  the  performance  goes  beyond  the  point  of 
vicious  suggestion  and  indulges  in  openly  immoral  acts  and  obscene 
speeches.  To  our  minds,  however,  the  thinly  veiled  allusions,  the 
salacious  jokes  and  the  vulgar  physical  contortions  are  far  more 
harmful  than  overt,  obscene  acts.  They  undermine  more  insid- 
iously the  character  and  moral  viewpoint  of  the  spectator. 

Four-fifths  of  the  people  who  frequent  these  theaters  are  men  ; 
about  25  per.  cent  of  them  are  young  men  between  the  ages  of  18 
and  25.  In  one  instance  a  child  was  noticed  in  the  theater  accom- 
panying her  mother. 

Drinking  and  smoking  is  general  in  two  of  these  theaters;  and 
the  patrons  frequently  become  intoxicated.  At  the  end  of  a  twenty- 
minute  intermission  at  one  performance  three  boys  under  21  years 
of  age  were  noticed  in  that  condition.  The  ventilation  in  these  two 
theaters  is  poor  and  the  sanitary  facilities,  as  well  as  those  in  the 
third  vaudeville  theater,  are  unsatisfactory  and  in  poor  condition. 

The  third  burlesque  house,  being  a  newer  theater,  is  better 
equipped  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  its  patrons.  It  provides 
decent  although  crude  amusement. 

Conclusions. 

In  the  interests  of  the  public  burlesque  and  vaudeville  perform- 
ances ought  to  be  censored  as  well  as  the  films  produced  in  moving 
picture  shows.  The  city  ordinance  ought  also  to  be  amended  so  that 
sexually  suggestive  acts  and  speeches  may  be  repressed  in  the  same 
manner  as  overt,  obscene  words  or  acts. 

Pool  and  Billiard  Rooms. 

Pool  and  billiards  prove  to  be  a  popular  amusement  for  men. 
Xo  attempt  has  been  made  to  estimate  the  size  of  the  patronage 
of  this  form  of  commercial  recreation,  as  the  attendance  varies 
greatly  from  day  to  day  and  hour  to  hour.  Some  idea  of  its  impor- 
tance may  be  gathered,  however,  from  the  following  table,  which 
shows  the  number  and  location  of  the  various  rooms  and  tables : 

Location  Rooms  Tables 

Downtown  business  district. 108  309 

Downtown  residential  district 354  508 

Suburban  residential   district 319  458 

Total  781  1-27:. 


30  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

The  majority  of  these  pool  rooms  are  established  in  connection 
with  saloons.  Many  of  them  are  really  nothing  more  than  a  pool 
table  in  the  bar  room  for  the  convenience  of  the  patrons  of  the 
saloon.  Some,  again,  are  in  connection  with  cigar  stores,  candy 
stores,  etc.  The  general  price  for  a  game  is  2^  cents  a  cue. 

The  pool  room  is  pre-eminently  the  meeting  place  of  young 
men.  If  not  playing  the  game,  they  loaf  about  and  watch  the  others 
doing  so.  It  is  thus  easy  for  a  boy  who  frequents  the  pool  room 
to  pick  up  undesirable  acquaintances  and  to  acquire  the  habit  of 
gambling.  The  State  has  recognized  this  danger,  and  although  the 
game  itself  has  good  recreational  value,  it  has  prohibited  a  minor 
under  18  years  of  age  from  frequenting  public  pool  rooms.  During 
the  summer  investigators  discovered  only  nine  boys  under  18  years 
of  age  in  visits  paid  to  over  seventy  pool  rooms.  Everywhere  the 
proprietors  spoke  of  the 'vigilance  of  the  police  and  their  fear  of 
violating  the  law.  The  law,  however,  is  effective  only  as  a  result 
of  constant  supervision,  and  pool  rooms  would  be  improved  by  com- 
ing under  the  official  inspection  of  a  special  department  of  the 
government. 

Shooting  Galleries  and  Bowling  Alleys. 

These  forms  of  commercial  amusement  can  be  classed  with  pool 
and  billiard  rooms.  The  tendency  of  these  places  to  encourage 
games  of  chance  and  to  harbor  persons  of  low  character  depreciates 
their  recreational  value  in  the  same  way  as  it  does  that  of  the  pool 
and  billiard  rooms,  and  necessitates  as  strict  a  supervision.  The  fol- 
lowing table  shows  their  number  and  location  existing  on  July 
1,  1913: 

Downtown  Downtown  Suburban 

Amusement  Business  Dist.      Residential  Dist.      Residential  Dist. 

Shooting  Gallery 3  0  -0 

Bowling  Alley  8  5  8 

Saloons  and  Beer  Gardens. 

The  saloon  as  an  important  factor  in  recreation  must  not  be 
overlooked.  Up  to  November  24,  1913,  Cincinnati  had  1,334  such 
places;  the  new  liquor  license  law'will  limit  the  number  to  802.  The 
saloon  is  the  social  club-house  of  the  man  of  modest  means.  It  is 
there  he  meets  his  cronies,  indulges  in  gossip  and  talks  over  the 
political  situation.  It  is  in  the  saloon  sitting-room  that  he  enjoys 
his  card  game,  and,  as  already  noted,  many  co-operative  social  clubs 
use  it  for  their  meeting-place.  As  long  as  there  has  not  been  pro- 
vided public  facility  for  social  intercourse,  and  free,  easily  secured 
meeting-places  for  clubs  and  social  groups,  the  saloon  has  performed 
a  valuable  service  as  far  as  promoting  recreation  is  concerned,  and 
the  effect  of  degrading  social  activities  by  closely  connecting  them 
with  the  sale  of  liquor  must  not  be  blamed  altogether  upon  the 
saloon. 

In.  the  summer  innumerable  saloons  with  a  little  yard  space, 
especially  if  they  are  located  on  the  hilltops,  open  beer  gardens. 
The  quality  of  recreation  furnished  by  these  gardens  during  the  past 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  81 

summer  was  on  the  whole  delightful.  They  are  patronized  chiefly 
bv  family  groups  who  come  to  spend  a  quiet  evening  together. 
With  two  exceptions,  when  the  moral  tone  of  the  place  was  low,  the 
conduct  of  these  gardens  was  quiet  and  orderly. 

Public  Dance  Halls  and  Dancing  Academies. 

Next  to  dramatic  entertainment,  dancing  probably  makes  the 
strongest  appeal  to  young  people.  To  the  adolescent  girl  especially 
the  rythm  of  the  dance  seems  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  self- 
expression  which  no  other  means  provides.  To  the  young  woman 
who  has  gone  to  work  it  is  the  outlet  for  emotional  excitement  which 
monotonous  employment  haS"  stifled  within  her  all  day.  It  fills  the 
same  part  in  her  life  as  athletics  does  in  that  of  the  boy's,  although 
young  men  are  also  fond  of  dancing.  At  present,  however,  the  only 
method  of  gratifying  this  normal  desire  for  the  majority  of  people 
has  been  to  go  to  a  commercial  dance  hall. 

There  are  twenty-seven  places  in  Cincinnati  where  public  dances 
are  regularly  conducted.  Eleven  of  these  might  be  termed  dancing 
academies  where  class  instruction  in  dancing  is  given.  Most  of 
these  dancing  academies,  however,  have  public  dances  on  Saturday 
and  Sunday  nights ;  in  fact,  a  line  cannot  be  easily  drawn  between 
the  two  types. 

A  count  was  taken  of  the  attendance  at  fourteen  of  these  public 
dances  on  a  Saturday  and  Sunday  evening  in  October.  The  attend- 
ance on  the  Sunday  night  was  2,640  (and  ticket  takers  in  several 
instances  told  the  investigators  that  business  was  dull),  and  on 
Saturday  night  was  4,239.  Estimating  the  attendance  at  the  dance 
halls  in  which  the  count  was  not  taken,  according  to  their  size  and 
location,  at  least  6,000  people  dance  on  a  Saturday  evening  in  Cin- 
cinnati. 

A  careful  investigation  was  made  of  the  conditions  under  which 
these  6,000  people  dance.  Seventeen  dance  halls  were  inspected,  and 
a  number  of  them  were  visited  several  times. 

The  quality  of  recreation  provided  by  four-fifths  of  the  commer- 
cial dance  halls  in  Cincinnati  is  of  the  lowest  order.  Many  of  them 
are  connected  with  saloons  or  have  a  bar. on  the  dance  floor  proper. 
The  dance  in  these  places  often  degenerates  into  a  drunken  orgy ; 
in  any  case  it  is  used  as  a  means  to  increase  the  sale  of  liquor.  Even 
in  those  dance  halls  where  soft  drinks  only  are  served,  except  in 
perhaps  three  instances,  the  supervision  is  inadequate  and  "tough" 
dancing  is  the  general  rule. 

Masquerade  balls  are  frequent  and  are  particularly  pernicious, 
as  they  serve  to  heighten  the  boisterous  conduct.  Minors  are  found 
in  many  of  the  halls  and  they  are  frequently  served  with  liquor. 
Some  very  little  children  were  noted,  who  played  around  the  dirty 
floors  while  their  parents  enjoyed  the  dance.  Prostitutes  and  other 
people  of  low  character  were  found  to  frequent  the  larger  dance 
halls  and  mingle  with  the  crowds  of  young  working  girls  and  men 
who  came  to  seek  innocent  pleasure. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

The  dance  halls  are  usually  located  on  the  second  floor  of  a 
building-,  and  there  is  only  one  really  up-to-date  dance  hall  in  Cin- 
cinnati. Many  of  the  floors  are  poor,  dirty,  slopped  with  liquor  and 
littered  with  cards  announcing  future  dances.  The  toilet  facilities 
are  very  bad,  and  in  some  places  the  toilets  for  both  men  and  women 
are  in  conspicuous  places  where  they  must  be  constantly  passed  by 
the  couples,  and  are  usually  in  close  connection  with  the  bar-room. 
In  one  instance  patrons  had  to  cross  the  length  of  a  saloon  sitting 
room  to  be  able,  to  check  their  wraps. 

Among  the  few  places  which  offer  opportunity  for  wholesome 
pleasure  is  the  "popular  supervised  dance"  conducted  every  Satur- 
day evening  in  the  north  wing  of  Music  Hall  by  the  Woman's  Civic 
Commission.  Although  the  admission  charge  is  only  fifteen  cents, 
when  at  the  other  halls  it  is  a  quarter,  the  dance  is  self-supporting. 
A  good  band  provides  the  music ;  members  of  the  Commission  super- 
vise in  person,  and  ice  cream  and  soft  drinks  can  be  secured  at  one 
end  of  the  hall.  No  return  checks  are  given.  This  dance  is  patron- 
ized largely  by  people  who  never  attended  public  dances  before, 
and  does  not  really  compete  with  the  bad  commercial  dance  halls. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  a  splendid  public  experiment  and  meets  a  need 
in  the  community. 

Aside  from  these  regular  dance  halls  and  academies  there  are  a 
number  of  public  halls  which  are  rented  out  for  special  dances,  and 
operate  under  a  one-day  license. 

Conclusions. 

The  dance  halls  in  Cincinnati  in  most  instances  are  vicious 
influences  in  the  recreational  life  of  the  community.  But  few  of 
them  provide  opportunity  for  wholesome  pleasure.  The  sale  of 
liquor  in  connection  with  a  public  dance  is  prohibited  by  law  and 
ought  to  be  strictly  enforced.  A  new  dance  hall  ordinance  ought 
to  require  better  standards  of  supervision  on  the  part  of  the  man- 
agers and  a  system  of  rigid  inspection  by  the  municipal  authorities. 

Skating  Rinks. 

There  are  two  skating  rinks  in  Cincinnati.  Their  season  is  from 
the  middle  of  October  to  the  beginning  of  May.  The  large  rink  can 
accommodate  850  to  1,000  couples  and  is  open  every  afternoon  and 
evening.  It  is  brilliantly  lighted  and  well  supervised.  Only  soft 
drinks  are  served  and  the  atmosphere  is  different  than  that  of  the 
dance  halls.  It  is  patronized  largely  by  boys  and  girls  who  are  too 
young  to  go  to  dances,  and  as  partners  are  not  required,  many  come 
singly. 

The  other  rink,  which  is  attended  only  by  colored  people,  can 
accommodate  280  couples  and  is  open  three  afternoons  a  week.  Its 
attendance  is  also  largely  made  up  of  young  boys  and  girls.  The 
place  is  adequately  supervised. 

Skating  rinks  provide  splendid  recreation  ;  the  only  danger  con- 
nected with  them  is  the  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  manager  as 
to  the  character  of  his  patrons  and  the  consequent  opportunity  for 
making  undesirable  acquaintances. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF   CINCINNATI.  88 

Amusement  Parks. 

In  the  summer  amusement  parks  provide  in  a  great  measure  the 
amusements  which  dance  halls,  pool  rooms  and  other  forms  of  com- 
mercial recreation  supply  during  the  winter  months. 

Three  large  commercial  amusement  parks  are  patronized  by 
Cincinnatians,  although  ©ne  is  located  in  Kentucky.  Letters  were 
sent  to  the  managers  of  those  places  requesting  answers  to  the  fol- 
lowing questions: 

1.  What  was  your  attendance  for  the  season  of  1912? 

2.  What  was  your  average  daily  attendance  for  the  season  of  1912? 

3.  Of  this  number,   approximately,  what  per  cent  were  under   10 
years  of  age?    Between  14  and  18  years  of  age? 

4.  What  was  your  largest  attendance  in  a   single  day  during  the 
season  of  1912? 

5.  How  many  concessions  and  exhibitions  have  you  in  your  park? 

6.  What  was  the  length  of  your  season  of  1912? 

Two  incomplete  replies  were  received.  These  two  parks  report 
a  total  attendance  of  about  550,000.  As  the  amusement  park  which 
did  not  reply  is  considerably  larger  than  the  other  two  and  has 
about  ten  more  concessions  and  exhibitions,  it  is  estimated  that  at 
least  950,000  people  visit  these  places  during  the  season,  of  which 
about  15  per  cent  are  under  10  years  of  age  and  20  per  cent  between 
14  and  18  years  of  age.  The  season  is  usually  from  Decoration  Day 
to  Labor  Day.  The  largest  attendance  on  a  single  day  was  reported 
by  one  manager  as  12,000. 

The  quality  of  recreation  provided  by  the  amusement  parks  is 
on  the  whole  poor.  Lack  of  strict  supervision  and  the  indifference 
on  the  part  of  managers  to  the  character  and  general  conduct  of 
their  patrons  lowers  the  moral  tone  and  makes  the  attendance  at 
these  places  dangerous  for  young  people.  Conduct  is  permitted  in 
two  of  these  parks  which  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a  moment  in 
any  public  place.  In  one  park  a  woman  was  seen  sitting  at  a  table 
alone  and  openly  soliciting,  while  private  policemen  and  waiters 
were  near  at  hand.  It  is  the  custom  in  this  same  park  for  young 
girls  to  walk  around  the  lake  until  they  pick  up  an  acquaintance 
with  men,  when  the  couples  frequently  leave  the  park  together.  To' 
accomplish  their  purpose  the  girls  may  walk  around  the  circle  fifty 
times  and  nobody  interfere.  As  long  as  boisterous  and  disorderly 
conduct  is  suppressed  the  management  thinks  it  has  done  its  duty. 
Places  which  would  be  quickly  open  to  criticism  if  unsupervised 
receive  strict  attention.  The  open  air  dance  hall,  for  instance,  is 
carefully  supervised  and  no  "tough"  dancing  is  permitted.  This 
same  park  showed  obscene  pictures  in  a  "Penny  Arcade"  all  summer, 
and  the  concession  was  always  crowded  with  young  men  and  girls, 
often  in  couples. 

In  the  second  park  open  immorality  takes  place  with  the  con- 
nivance or  through  the  indifference  of  the  management.  A  stretch 
of  woody  hillside  beyond  a  lake  walk  is  kept  absolutely  unlighted 


84  RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

and  unsupervised,  and  it  is  current  talk  among  the  habitues  of  the 
park  that  "anything  goes"  there. 

In  the  third  park  the  recreational  conditions  are  fair,  because 
the  management  supervises  more  carefully. 

All  the  three  parks  have  darkened  concessions  and  exhibitions. 
As  they  usually  are  forms  of  amusement. which  involve  emotional 
excitement,  the  moral  danger  is  accordingly  increased.  Most  of  the 
concessions  provide  crude  or  coarse  amusement.  One  park,  in  a 
concession  called  "Hilarity  Hall"  creates  amusement  by  having  the 
skirts  of  the  women  blown  about  by  puffs  of  air  forced  through 
holes  in  the  floor.  In  the  same  concession  is  located  the  "Dippy 
House,"  a  long 'dark  passage  with  trick  floors,  moving  stairways, 
walls,  and  slides  in  which  the  patrons  are  jounced  about  and  finally 
emerge  helter  skelter  at  the  other  end  into  a  small,  dark  room. 

The  most  popular  concessions  in  this  park  are  "Hilarity  Hall" 
and  the  Cabaret  shows.  "The  Thriller,"  or  scenic  railway,  seems  to 
rank  next  in  favor. 

Conclusions. 

Persons  who  wish  to  operate  amusement  parks  ought  to  be  re- 
quired by  law  to  secure  a  license  so  as  to  come  under  public  control. 

Excursion  Boats. 

One  of  the  amusement  parks  can  be  reached  by  a  river  trip,  and 
two  excursion  boats  make  five  round  trips  daily.  During  the  past 
summer  the  recreational  conditions  on  these  boats  were  much  im- 
proved over  other  seasons.  In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  one 
of  the  boats  was  not  properly  supervised ;  there  was  no  matron  in 
the  woman's  retiring  room  and  the  decks  were  insufficiently  lighted 
and  patrolled.  Later,  after  several  conferences  with  a  representative 
of  the  company,  a  matron  was  installed,  and  the  captain  or  first 
mate  made  halMiourly  rounds  of  the  decks.  The  lighting  on  one 
of  the  boats,  however,  was  never  satisfactorily  improved,  the  upper 
deck  remaining  in  total  darkness  throughout  the  season.  The  sani- 
tary conditions  on  both  boats  were  very  bad ;  common  towels  and 
hair  brushes  were  also  in  use.  Later  these  were  removed  and  the 
places  cleaned  up. 

A  dance  is  conducted  in  the  salon  of  the  boat.  Two  private 
policemen  were  in  constant  attendance  and  no  "tough"  dancing  was 
allowed.  A  bar  is  located  on  the  deck  below,  and  after  each  dance 
the  majority  of  young  men  left  their,  partners  and  went  down  to  get 
a  drink.  Very  few  of  the  young  women  frequented  the  bar-room. 
During  the  season,  however,  fifteen  prostitutes  were  noticed  drink- 
ing in  the  bar-room,  where  they  usually  remained  during  the  whole 
evening.  On  several  occasions  there  was  disorderly  conduct  which 
had  to  be  suppressed  by  the  private  policemen. 

Other  excursion  boats  make  trips  to  farther  points  up  and  down 
the  river;  these  trips  usually  last  three  days.  These  boats  were 
not  investigated. 


RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI.  ;$5 

Bathing  Beaches. 

Cincinnati  has  no  bathing  beaches  of  its  own.  The  shore  on  the 
Ohio  side  of  the  Ohio  River  is  spoiled  for  recreation  purposes  by 
its  commercial  use.  On  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river,  however, 
there  is  a  fairly  good,  sandy  beach.  This  beach  is  used  by  the  people 
of  Cincinnati  as  well  as  by  the  smaller  towns  along  the  Kentucky 
bank.  It  is  hard,  therefore,  to  estimate  the  number  of  people  from 
our  city  who  use  the  bathing  beaches  each  summer. 

There  are  two  large  commercial  bathing  beaches,  one  with  a 
capacity  of  500  rooms  and  the  other  with  a  capacity  of  1,000  rooms, 
and  innumerable  private  houses  along  the  river  bank  which  will 
take  in  and  accommodate  a  few  people.  The  manager  of  one  of 
these  beaches  reports  that  ht5  accommodates  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
thousand  people  during  the  season,  which  is  from  June  15th  to  Sep- 
tember 20th,  and  that  the  maximum  number  in  one  day  was  about 
ten  thousand.  The  manager  of  the  other  beach  reports  that  he 
accommodates  fully  100,000  people  during  the  summer  and  that  the 
maximum  attendance  was  about  25,000.  He  thinks,  however,  that 
the  private  houses  along  the  bank  accommodate  fully  half  .of  the 
people  who  make  use  of  the  river.  On  this  basis,  about  240,000 
people  of  Cincinnati  and  the  neighboring  towns  in  Kentucky  use 
the  beach  during  the  summer. 

By  closing  the  bathing  beaches  at  7  p.  m.  last  summer,  many 
difficulties  experienced  in  the  past  were  overcome,  and  immorality 
was  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  moral  tone  of  the  beach,  however, 
could  be  greatly  improved  by  effective  patrolling  and  supervision. 
Last  summer  there  was  only  one  private  policeman  on  the  beach, 
who  in  emergencies  sought  the  assistance  of  the  Dayton  and  Belle- 
vue  police.  This  aid  had  to  be  called  for  on  two  occasions  last 
summer  to  put  a  stop  to  gambling. 

The  larger  of  the  two  commercial  beaches  has 'a  saloon  and 
stand  on  beach  property.  Its  dressing  rooms  are  often  very  dirty, 
and  it  had  inadequate  provisions  for  shower  baths. 

Conclusions. 

Commercial  recreation,  if  supervised,  provides  splendid  facility 
for  amusement.  Unsupervised,  it  is  a  menace  to  the  wholesome 
life  of  the  community  and  is  easily  turned  into  an  instrument  for 
the  furthering  of  vice.  Cincinnati  needs  new  and  better  methods 
for  supervising  its  commercial  recreation. 

IV.     PUBLIC  RECREATION.    . 

The  community  has  in  late  years  recognized  the  inadequacy  of 
home  recreation  and  the  necessity  of  supplementing  it.  Home 
recreation,  however,  was  constantly  safeguarded  by  the  unconscious 
or  conscious  supervision  of  each  member  of  the  family  groups  over 
the  other,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  public  recreation  without 
systematic  and  thorough  supervision  was  as  unhealthy  as  no  recrea- 
tion at  all.  This  part  of  the  report,  therefore,  which  deals  with  the 
facilities  for  public  recreation  emphasizes  the  present  provision  for 
its  supervision. 


«5b  RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

The  School  Plant. 

There  are  sixty-eight  public  school  buildings  in  Cincinnati  main- 
tained and  managed  by  the  Board  of  Education.  Only  twelve  of 
these  buildings  are  used  to  their  full  capacity  at  the  present  time. 
During  the  winter  of  1912-13  nine  school  buildings  were  not  used 
at  all  except  for  regular  day  school  purposes.  Eight  schools  reported 
that  their  gymnasiums  were  used  once  or  twice  a  week  by  regularly 
organized  clubs  or  classes,  and  others  that  they  were  used  occa- 
sionally. Thirty-one  schools  report  the  meeting  at  the  school  build- 
ing (usually  once  a  month)  of  Mothers'  Clubs;  eleven  that  the 
Neighborhood  Improvement  Associations  make  use  of  the  school 
once  a  month ;  sixteen  that  they  provide  a  meeting  place  for  other 
clubs  and  classes — i.  e.,  Class  in  Folk  Dancing,  Woman's  Art  Class, 
Band  Practice,  Children  of  the  Republic,  Woman's  Millinery  Class, 
etc. ;  fourteen  the  use  of  the  school  building  for  special  neighborhood 
parties,  sales  and  entertainments ;  and  six  the  use  of  the  auditorium 
for  occasional  lectures. 

Only  two  of  all  the  schools  have  anything  approaching  regu- 
larly organized  social  center  activity.  Both  the  Douglass  and  the 
Washburn  schools  report  clubs  for  men,  women,  boys  and  girls, 
with  social  programs.  These  schools,  however,  are  not  used  to  their 
fullest  capacity.  - 

April  14,  1913,  the  Board  of  Education  adopted  a  program  for  the 
establishment  of  social  centers.  A  Social  Center  Director  has  been 
appointed,  who  is  to  work  under  the  direction  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Schools. 

Public  Libraries. 

Aside  from  the  opportunities  for  reading,  the  Public  Library 
and  its  branches  provide  facilities  for  recreation.  The  Main  Library 
and  eight  of  the  Branch  Libraries  have  rooms  or  auditoriums  which 
can  be  secured  for  recreation  purposes.  These  rooms  are  used  fre- 
quently for  lectures,  concerts,  entertainments,  social  clubs,  and 
children's  story  hours.  The  Boy  Scouts  often  meet  in  the  Public 
Libraries. 

Public  Outdoor  Recreation. 
Parks. 

Not  counting  small  plots  of  land  laid  out  in  parks  solely  to 
beautify  the  city,  Cincinnati  has  under  the  management  of  the  Park 
Board  thirty  public  parks  and  parkways  with  a  total  area  of  1,879.6 
acres.  Most  of  this  property  (in  fact  all  but  254.3  acres  of  it)  is 
located,  of  course,  in  the  suburban  districts  of  the  city.  A  great 
deal  of  it  is  at  the  present  time  unimproved.  The  importance  of 
this  form  of  recreation  cannot  be  estimated  in  figures.  The  drives, 
the  walks  and  picnic  grounds,  the  beautiful  vistas  and  quiet  nooks 
in  woody,  places  provide  especially  for  the  youth  and  the  adult 
valuable  forms  of  recreation.  Several  of  the  newer  parks  are  at  the 
present  time  rather  inaccessible,  necessitating  quite  a  walk  from  the 
nearest  car  line  to  the  park  proper.  The  Park  Board  reports,  how- 


RKCKKATION    SURVEY   OF   CINCINNATI.  37 

ever,  that  general  plans  to   facilitate  their  use  are  in  progress  or 
will  l)e  consummated  in  the  future. 

Ault  Park  on  the  east  is  approached  by  a  fifteen-minute  walk 
from  the  Madison  cars.  In  the  plan  for  the  improvement  of  this 
property,  as  well  as  in  the  improvement  of  surrounding  private 
properties,  car  lines  are  under  consideration,  and  new  roads  and 
entrances  are  being  placed  which  will  make  the  park  accessible. 
Mt.  Echo  Park  is  directly  on  the  Elberon  Avenue  car  line.  A 
new  entrance  is  under  construction  at  the  present  time  which  will 
make  this  property  most  accessible.  Mt.  Airy,  stretching  from  the 
Colerain  Pike  to  Westwood,  will  be  easily  reached  as  soon  as  the 
Colerain  car  line  is  extended  along  the  Colerain  Pike ;  in  fact,  it  will 
border  the  park  on  the  nortft!  Blackley  Farm,  in  North  Avondale,' 
will  not  only  be  accessible  by  the  construction  of  the  new  Bond 
Hill  car  line  along  Reading  Road,  but  will  actually  have  a  car  line 
running  through  the  park. 

Public  parks  do  not  need  the  same  supervision  as  playgrounds. 
They  need,  however,  to  be  thoroughly  policed  to  prevent  rowdyism 
and  that  disorder  which  is  often  the  expression  of  crowd  excitement 
when  a  group  of  young  people  get  together.  They  should,  moreover, 
be  adequately  lighted  to  make  thorough  policing  possible  and  to 
discourage  improper  conduct. 

Our  parks  were  not  adequately  supervised  during  the  summer 
of  1913.  The  responsibility  for  supervision  was  divided  between 
the  Park  Board  and  the  Director  of  Public  Safety  through  the 
Police  Department.  The  Park  Board  employed  only  one  park 
policemen  at  Eden  Park,  Washington  Park,  Inwood  Park,  Burnel 
Woods,  and  Lincoln  Park.  The  regular  city  policeman  on  the 
beat  was  also  supposed  to  patrol  these  parks.  At  each  of  its  play- 
grounds the  Park  Board  employed  one  caretaker,  and  at  Sinton, 
McKinley  and  Mt.  Echo  Parks,  one  private  wratchman  in  addition. 
Supervision  of  all  other  park  property  depended  solely  upon  the 
occasional  inspection  of  the  city  police  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
investigation  proved  that  it  was  not  possible  for  them  to  do 
more  than  to  take  a  cursory  glance  into  the  parks.  It  is  self- 
evident  that  one  private  policeman,  and  an  occasional  visit  from  a 
mounted  officer  of  the  city  police,  is  inadequate  supervision  for 
Burnet  Woods  and  Eden  Park.  Lincoln  Park  suffered  also  from 
lack  of  a  sufficient  number  of  supervisors.  While  the  park  police- 
man was  on  one  side  of  the  lake,  rowdyism  wrent  on  unchecked  on 
the  other.  The  park  police  force,  however,  was  of  necessity  small 
owing  to  the  lack  of  funds  at  the  command  of  the  Board  of  Park 
Commissioners  for  the  supervision  and  maintenance  of  their  numer- 
ous properties.  The  Board  had  asked  for  ample  funds  for  policing 
park  properties  in  1913,  but  the  necessity  of  cutting  down  the  whole 
city  budget  forced  them  to  reduce  their  police  force  to  six  men. 
During  the  summer  one  motorcycle  man  was  instituted  to  increase 
the  efficiency  of  the  supervision,  and  worked  so  well  that  more  will 
be  used  the  coming  season. 

The  lighting  of  the  parks  and  playgrounds  in  general  was  fairly 
good  last  summer. 


88  RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

Park  Playgrounds. 

The  city  of  Cincinnati  owns,-  under  the  management  of  the 
Board  of  Park  Commissioners,  thirteen  playgrounds  with  a  total 
area  of  14.9  acres ;  five  tennis  courts,  two  golf  links  and  nine  athletic 
fields  with  a  total  of  87.9  acres. 

Three  more  small  playgrounds,  with  a  total  area  of  2.1  acres, 
are  in  the  process  of  construction.  The  playgrounds  remain  open 
only  four  months  during  the  year,  from  May  15  to  October  31. 

These  playgrounds,  with  three  exceptions,  are  very  small  and 
have  considerable  space  taken  up  with  play  equipment,  such  as 
swings,  slides,  sand-piles,  wading  pools  and  rest  houses.  It  is  the 
Park  Board's  purpose  to  provide  opportunity  for  play  for  children 
from  two  to  sixteen  years  of  a^e.  The  type  of  playground  and  the 
form  of  equipment  just  described,  however,  are  adapted  only  for 
use  of  the  child  between  two  and  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  no 
special  provision  is  made  for  the  boys  and  girls  between  thirteen 
and  sixteen,  although  the  law  prevents  them  from  going  to  work. 

Eight  of  the  public  playgrounds  are  in  the  downtown  residential 
or  congested  districts  of  the  city,  with  a  total  area  of  6.5  acres. 
Eleven  of  them  are  in  that  section  of  the  city  bounded  by  McMillan 
street  on  the  north,  the  Ohio  River  on  the  south,  McLean  avenue 
on  the  west,  and  Kemper  Lane  on  the  east,  in  which,  according  to 
the  census  made  by  our  Association  of  the  child  population  from 
two  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  live  50,003  children. 

Reckoning  on  the  basis  that  three  hundred  children  are  the 
maximum  number  who  can  play  on  an  acre,  which  is  the  figure 
arrived  at  by  the  London  School  Board,  the  Playground  and  Recrea- 
tion Association  of  America,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  local  Board 
of  Park  Commissioners,  in  the  section  of  the  city  where  these  50,003 
children  live,  public  playgrounds  have  been  provided  for  but  3,360 
of  them  to  play  at  one  time. 

Only  two  athletic  fields,  with  a  total  of  six  baseball  diamonds, 
are  located  in  this  section  of  the  city  on  its  eastern  and  northern 
boundaries.  To  reach  the  nearest  athletic  field  from  the  wrestern 
boundary  of  this  section  would  necessitate  a  street  car  ride  of  at 
least  twenty  minutes  or  a  walk  of  about  three  miles.  This  field  has 
space,  for  but  one  diamond,  so  even  if  the  children  had  enough 
energy  to  walk  this  distance  in  after-school  hours  they  could  not 
possibly  find  opportunity  to  play. 

Twenty  baseball  diamonds  in  all  are  provided  in  the  various 
athletic  fields  throughout  the  city.  Permits  for  their  use  are  re- 
quired on  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  They  are  in  general  patronized 
by  the  older  boys  and  men.  Only  "playground  baseball,"  played 
with  a  large,  soft  indoor  baseball,  is  permitted  in  the  playgrounds. 

Table  IX  shows  the  location  of  the  public  play  spaces  and  their 
adequacy  in  meeting  the  city's  needs  : 


RKCRKATION    SURVEY   OF   CINCINNATI. 


89 


25 


26 


TABLE  IX. 
Density  of  Child  Population  and  Public  Play  Space. 


Ward 

Per  Cent  of 
Total  Child 
Population 
of  City  from 

Per  Cent  of                                    Play 
Total  Area            Play             Ground 
of  City           Grounds         Acreage 

Athletic 
Athletic               Fields 
Fields             Acreage 

6  to  17  years  $ 

1  

4.1 

15.4 

Turkey  Ridge      6. 

2 

4.3 

8. 

East  End  Ball 

Grounds            7. 

3  

4.6  • 

3. 

Walnut  Hills 

1.2 

Evanston 

Ball  Ground     5.2 

4  

.      2.4 

1.6 

Deer  Creek 

Common         12.8 

5  

4.5 

.4 

Sycamore 

.4 

6  

2.3 

^•5 

7  

.  .      3.2 

.2 

Washington* 

8  .  . 

.      2.3 

1. 

Lytle 

.4 

Pearl 

.4 

9  

.  .      3.2 

1.4 

Filson  Out- 

look 

1.9 

10  

4.0 

.4. 

Inwood 

1.3 

McMicken 

.6 

11  

4.4 

1.2 

Mohawkf 

.6 

' 

Hanna 

1. 

• 

12  

3.8 

.7 

Western  and 

McLeanf 

.3 

13  

.      3.1 

8. 

Pleasant  Ridge 

Woodward 

2.5 

14  

4.3 

.4 

15  

3.8 

.2 

McKinley 

1  2 

16  

...      4.2 

.4 

17  

4.6 

1.2 

Lincoln 

1.8. 

18  

4. 

.4 

Sinton 

1.7 

19  

4.1 

3.7 

Oyler* 

20  

.      6.0 

7.3 

Riverside* 

DempseyParklO. 

Warsaw  and 

Woodlawnf 

1.1 

Mt.  Echo  Park     7. 

21  

3.8 

.4 

Hulbert 

.5 

22  

3.1 

2. 

Taft  Field           i:',.:> 

23  

.      4.9 

3.2 

Edgewood* 

... 

24  

5.0 

10. 

N.  Fairmount* 

.3 

Lick  Run  Ball 

100. 


14.5 


14.:, 


100. 


Ground 
Westwood 
Commons 


21.2 


It  will  be  noticed  that  the  adjoining'  seventh,  tenth  and  fifteenth 
wards,  which  have  11  per  cent  of  the  total  child  population  of  the 
city  living  in  s/10  per  cent  of  the  city's  total  area,  are  only  provided 
with  public  play  space  to  the  amount  of  3.1  acres. 

This  intense  congestion  has  been  brought  on  several  occasions 
to  the  attention  of  the  Park  Board,  with  the  suggestion  that  a  play- 
ground be  established  in  the  northern  section  of  the  Seventh  Ward. 
The  general  plan  of  the  Park  Board  is  to  establish  playgrounds  in 
the  congested  districts  a  half-mile  distant  from  each  other,  thus 

*  Contemplated  playgrounds, 
t  Playgrounds  in  the  course  of  construction. 

t  Figures  for  Wards  2,  3,   12,  13,  19,   20,  22,  23,   24,  25,  26  taken  from  the  School  Census, 
1913;  others  from  Police  Census,,  December,  1912. 


40  RECREATION    SURVEY   OF    CINCINNATI. 

covering  the  dense  population  of  the  city  with  a  chain  of  play- 
grounds. The  Park  Board  reports  that  this  plan  also  includes  the 
consideration  of  the  more  pressing  needs  of  a  neighborhood  due  to 
congestion  of  population,  and  that  its  first  contemplated  action  for 
the  partial  relief  of  the  children  in  this  congested  section  is  the 
establishment  of  a  playground  in  the  northern  end  of  Washington 
Park.  This  Washington  Park  playground  will  not  preclud'e,  how- 
ever, the  establishment  at  some  other  time  of  an  additional  play- 
ground further  north  in  this  over-populated  district. 

Present  Supervisory  Force. 

The  Park  Board  employed  during  the  four  months'  season  of 
1913,  twenty  instructors  and  one  supervisor.  Three  instructors  re- 
ceived a  salary  of  $80  a  month,  three  a  salary  of  $75  a  month,  one 
a  salary  of  $70  a  month,  four  a  salary  of  $60  a  month,  and  nine  a 
salary  of  $50  a  month.  The  supervisor  receives  $100  a  month.  The 
athletic  fields  are  not  supervised  except  at  the  greatest  play  periods, 
namely,  Saturday  afternoons  and  Sundays. 

The  cost  of  maintaining  the  playgrounds  under  the  Park  Board 
was  $12,901.95  £or  1913. 

Attendance. 

Seven  hundred  and  ninety-three  thousand  four  hundred  and 
thirty  (793,430)  children  attended  public  playgrounds  during  the 
summer  of  1913.*** 

School  Playgrounds. 

Ten  after-school  playgrounds  (eight  in  the  section  of  the  city 
covered  by  our  census)  were  conducted  in  1913  by  the  School  Board 
from  April  15  to  the  close  of  school,  and  from  September  10  to 
October  31.  Five  school  playgrounds  were  also  kept  open  under 
supervision  for  ten  weeks  during  the  summer.  The  school  play- 
grounds are  in  the  majority  of  instances  very  small. 

The  School  Board  employed  to  supervise  the  playgrounds 
thirty-nine  teachers  at  $15  a  week,  one  director  at  $39  a  week,  and 
one  assistant  director  at  $30  a  week. 

It  expended  $1,354.25  on  its  after-school  playgrounds  for  the 
spring  term,  and  $5,160.55  for  maintaining  the  vacation  playgrounds. 
The  attendance  was  95,482.* 

Streets. 

From  the  survey  of  three  soundings  already  mentioned,  under- 
taken to  ascertain  the  amount  of  space  usable  for  play,  it  was  found 
that  streets  and  alleys  take  up  from  30%  to  70%  of  the  total  area 
of  a  neighborhood.  It  has  also  been  shown  that  many  children  are 
solely  dependent  upon  the  facilities  provided  by  the  streets  for  any 
form  of  outdoor  recreation.  The  streets,  therefore^  must  be  re- 
garded at  the  present  time  as  an  important  public  provision  for 
recreation,  and  ought  to  be  supervised  accordingly.  Plans  for  their 
wider  use  can  be  worked  out  by  the  establishment  of  play  zones  in 
congested  districts  to  supplement  inadequate  play  space/ 

**  Reported  by  the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners. 
*  Reported  by  the  Director  of  School  Playgrounds. 


RF.CRKA'I K)\     <l   KYFY    OF    CINCINNATI  41 

Conclusion. 

Cincinnati  lacks  at  the  present  time  adequate  public  provision 
for  recreation.  How  its  present  facilities  can  be  supplemented  and 
developed  to  meet  the  recreational  needs  of  the  city  is  discussed  in 
the  last  section  of  this  report. 

V.  THE  COLORED  CHILD  AND  YOUTH. 

We  have  so  far  considered  the  recreational  facilities  provided 
for  the  people  as  a  whole.  Although  provisions  for  amusenient  may 
be  adequate  in  a  locality  for  the  persons  of  that  neighborhood  in 
general,  the  needs  of  a  particular  group  may  not  have  been  met. 
Foreign  immigrants  -require  special  forms  of  recreation,  adapted  to 
their  customs  and  habits,  and  the  same  is  especially  true  of  the  col- 
ored people,  where  prejudice  and  the  fundamental  objections  to 
social  intercourse  between  tfre  white  and  black  races  excludes  them 
from  the  use  of  facilities  for  recreation  patronized  by  their  neigh- 
bors. This  condition  is  particularly  disastrous  to  the  growing  col- 
ored boy  and  girl. 

Two  big  colored  settlements  in  our  city  are  located  in  Walnut 
Hills  and  the  West  End.  Recreation  for  colored  children  and 
young  people  in  Walnut  Hills  is  somewhat  provided  for  by  the 
social  center  activities  of  the  Douglas  School,  with  the  Chapel  Street 
playground  in  close  proximity.  The  children  and  youth  who 
live  downtown,  however,  have  absolutely  no  facilities  for  whole- 
some play.  There  are  two  picture  shows  on  Fifth  street  which  are 
wholly  patronized  by  them,  a  colored  dance  hall  on  Sixth  street,  a 
few  pool  rooms  and  saloons  which  are  open  to  them,  and  a  skating 
rink  on  Poplar  street,  to  which  they  come  from  all  parts  of  the  city. 
No  social  agency  has  as  yet  been  concerned  with  the  recreational 
life  of  the  colored  boy  or  girl,  although  15  per  cent  ol  delinquent 
boys  and  29  per  cent  of  the  delinquent  girls  *  are  colored  while  only 
5.4  per  cent**  of  our  entire  population  is  composed  of  colered  people. 
The  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  it  is  true,  is  working  to  secure  a  colored  branch 
of  its  organization,  but  it  would  solve  none  of  the  problems  relating 
to  the  lack  of  opportunities  for  recreation  for  the  young  colored 
child,  the  adolescent  colored  girl  or  adult  woman. 
Density  of  Colored  Child  Population. 

The  center  of  the  colored  population  downtown  is  about  Eighth 
and  Mound  streets.  Table  X  shows  the  distribution  of  the  colored 
child  population  by  wards. 

TABLE    X.  Colored  Children 

between  2  and  18 

Ward  Colored  Child  Population.  years  of  aget 


6  

209 

7 

64 

8  

.-> 

() 

34 

10  

19 

11  

47 

14  

81 

15  

123 

16  

:>«:> 

17  

369 

18  

566 

21  

...  :>  i 

*  Juvenile  Court  Report  of  the  year  1913. 

**  United  States  Census,  1910. 

t  Figures  taken   from  the  Poiice  Census,  December.   1912. 


42  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

The  adjoining  Eighteenth,  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Wards 
(mentioned  according  to  location)  have  1,490  children  and  young 
people  without  any  means  for  wholesome  play.  In  the  Fifteenth 
Ward,  which  adjoins  the  Eighteenth  immediately  to  the  north,  are 
123  more. 

The  sixty-four  children  in  the  Seventh  Ward  are  nearly  all  on 
Providence  street,  and  those  in  the  Sixth  Ward  are  centered  around 
New  and  McAlister  streets. 

Sinton  playground  is  the  public  play  space  provided  in  the  WTest 
End  and  is  surrounded  by  the  colored  settlement.  Every  summer 
there  is  friction 'in  .the  park  between  the  white  and  black  children. 

Conclusion. 

The  colored  child  and  youth  in  the  downtown  districts  have  no 
wholesome  means  for  recreation.  The  community  ought,  therefore, 
provide  them  with  public  facilities  by  opening  a  social  center  for 
their  use. 

SECTION  C.     ADMINISTRATION. 

The  development  of  adequate  and  wholesome  recreation  de- 
pends in  a  great  measure  upon  the  government's  method  of  fostering 
and  controlling  it.  Cincinnati  has  neither  recognized  the  fact  that 
the  people's  pleasures  are  in  their  way  as  important  as  the  people's 
health,  nor  that  the  various  forms  of  recreation  are  but.  closely  con- 
nected parts  of  the  same  problem.  In  consequence  the  administra- 
tion of  recreation  in  our  city  today  is  handled  by  different  depart- 
ments of  the  government,  sometimes  in  no  way  connected  with  each 
other,  and  the  city  suffers  from  the  lack  of  a  suitable,  closely  co- 
ordinated and  systematically  prosecuted  recreation  program. 

This  section  of  the  report  discusses  the  present  method  of  ad- 
ministration and  suggests  a  way  of  improving  its  efficiency. 

I.     PRESENT  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  duties  of  four  of  the  divisions  of  the  government  which 
touch  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  the  administration  of  public  recrea- 
tion in  Cincinnati,  are  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Park  Board,  the 
Police  Department,  and  the  Mayor's  office. 

The  School  Board. 

The  School  Board  is  an  independent  political  body  distinct  from 
'the  municipal  government  and  elected  directly  by  the  people.  Its 
administration  covers  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  school 
playgrounds  and  social  centers. 

The  Park  Board. 

The  Park  Board  is  another  independent  body,  although  under  the 
control  of  the  municipal  government.  It  consists  of  three  members 
appointed  by  the  Mayor.  Its  duties  involve  the  establishment,  main- 
tenance, control  and  supervision  of  public  parks  and  playgrounds. 
The  funds  used  by  the  board  are  granted  by  appropriation,  or  se- 
cured through  special  bond  issues  approved  by  the  voters. 


UKCUKATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI.  43 

The  Mayor's  Office. 

The  Mayor  is  given  power  by  law  to  grant  or  revoke  the  licenses 
of  public  dance  halls,  pool  rooms,  theaters,  picture  shows,  bowling 
alleys  and  shooting  galleries.  He  is,  therefore,  concerned  in  the 
administration  of  recreation  as  far  as  control  of  its  commercial  form 
is  concerned. 

The  Police  Department. 

The  function  of  the  Police  Department  is  to  enforce  the  law, 
to  maintain  order  in  public  places,  and  to  suppress  immoral  and  dis- 
orderly conduct.  Its  duties  involve  general  supervision  over  places 
of  public  amusement. 

II.     DEFECTS  IN  THE  PRESENT  SYSTEM  OF  ADMINISTRATION. 
Lack  of  Unity. 

The  chief  defect  in  the  present  system  of  administration  is  that 
it  lacks  unitv.  The  Park  and  School  Boards,  although  they  both 
establish  and  maintain  public  facilities  for  recreation,  work  inde- 
pendently of  each  other  and  their  efforts  are  not  correlated.  Each, 
as  it  were,  is  patching  the  recreational  needs  of  the  city  instead  of 
jointly  carrying  out  a  carefully  formulated  recreation  program, 
planned  to  meet  the  city's  requirements  for  recreation  every  day  in 
the  year.  It  was  only  last  year  that  a  working  agreement  was 
reached  between  the  two  boards  as  to  the  establishment  of  play- 
grounds. 

The  Park  Board  Not  a  Board  for  Public  Recreation. 

Another  grave  defect  in  the  present  system"  is  the  lack  of  re- 
sponsibility on  the  part  of  any  specific  department  to  develop  facili- 
ties for  public  recreation.  It  may  be  argued  that  the  Park  Board 
is  supposed  to  fulfill  this  function.  Our  Park  Boards,  however,  have 
been  primarily  interested  in  the  growth  of  a  park  and  boulevard 
system  for  the  beautifying  of  Cincinnati. 

Because  of  this  concept  of  its  duties,  the  Park  Board  has  not 
met  the  recreational  needs  of  the  city  in  all  its  aspects.  It  gives 
too  little  consideration  to  and  spends  too  little  money  on  purely 
recreational  facilities.  For  instance,  34.1%  of  the  original  bond 
issue  of  $100,000  was  spent  for  the  purchase  and  development  of 
playgrounds  and  athletic  fields  properties.  Again,  in  November, 
1912,  the  people  of  Cincinnati  authorized  a  bond  issue  of  $750,000 
for  parks  and  playgrounds.  Up  to  September  1,  1913,  bonds  to  the 
sum  of  $240,000  were  available  for  use.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
campaign  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  bond  issue  was  made  largely 
on  the  ground  that  playgrounds  were  urgently  needed,  only 
$15,608.01,  or  6.4  per  cent  of  the  sum  available  has  been  used  for 
playground  purposes. 

The  Park  Board  reports  that  this  expenditure  does  not  cover  its 
plans  for  playgrounds  out  of  this  fund.  They  state  that  they  have 


44  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

practical  plans  now  for  additional  Expenditures  of  $20,000  for  a 
playground  house  and  pool  at  Walnut  and  McMicken  streets ; 
$20,000  for  a  house,  pool,  etc.,  in  the  Seventh  Ward,  to  be  located 
probably  in  the  northern  end  of  Washington  Park ;  $20,000  to  $25,000 
on  the  Lincoln  Park  playground  ;  $12,000  for  additional  play  facili- 
ties and  improvements  at  Inwood  Park ;  about  $30,000  on  nine  other 
smaller  playgrounds ;  $50,000  for  the  acquisition  of  land  for  a  new 
playground  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  together  with  other 
numerous  improvements,  such  as  dancing  platforms,  tennis  courts, 
croquet  grounds. 

Even  counting  these  proposed  expenditures  only  about  23  per 
cent  of  the  total  bond  issue  will  have  been  spent  for  playgrounds 
and  athletic  fields.  Further,  an  analysis  of  these  proposed  expendi- 
tures shows  that  very  little  of  the  sum  is  to  be  used  in  increasing 
play  space,  but  will  go  for  buildings  and  equipment. 

The  general  tendency  in  playground  construction  has  been  to 
get  away  from  elaborate  equipment.  Playground  apparatus  pro- 
vides recreation  suitable  only  for  the  young  child.  Boys  and  girls 
require  actual  space  where  under  leadership  and  supervision  they 
have  opportunity  to  engage  in  games  and  learn  to  co-operate  among 
themselves  in  securing  active  exercise  and  recreation. 

The  wisdom  of  using  a  limited  sum  of  money  largely  for  the 
erection  of  buildings  to  cost  nearly  $20,000  in  playgrounds  which 
frequently  do  not  equal  one  acre  in  area,  and  for  the  further  im- 
provement of  playgrounds  already  established  and  equipped,  may 
well  be  questioned,  especially  when  a  study  of  Table  IX.  will  show 
how  inadequately  public  play  space  is  meeting  the  needs  of  the 
community. 

Lack  of  Adequate  Supervision  of  Commercial  Recreation. 

Although  the  Mayor  is  given  the  power  to  control  commercial 
recreation,  no  adequate  machinery  is  provided  with  which  to  super- 
vise it.  The  Police  Department,  which  has  general  supervisory 
powers,  is  not  efficiently  equipped  to  exercise  this  control.  The 
temperament  and  training  for  a  successful  policeman  does  not 
necessarily  fit  a  man  to  be  an  intelligent  investigator  of  recreational 
conditions.  In  any  case  the  duties  of  the  Police  Department  are  too 
general  and  too  varied  to  include  effective  supervision  of  commercial 
amusement  places. 
Opportunity  for  Friction. 

Under  the  present  system  of  administration  there  is  continual 
opportunity  for  friction.  Friction  results  in  lack  of  voluntary  co- 
operation between  departments  and  in  decreased  administrative 
efficiency. 

III.     SUGGESTED  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  present  administration  of  public  recreation  in  inefficient. 
The  system  is  disjointed,  lacks  co-ordination  and  unity  of  purpose. 
To  do  away  with  these  defects  it  is  suggested  that  the  various 
powers  of  administration  be  centered  in  one  Department  or  Board. 
This  Board  could  be  created  by  extending  the  scope  of  activities  of 
the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners.  It  should  be  known  as  the 


RECRKATIOX    SfRYHY    OF    CINCINNATI.  45 

Park  and  Recreation  Board  and  should  consist  of  five  members — 
four  to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor  (one  of  whom  must  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Education),  and  "the  Superintendent  of  Public 
Schools. 

As  school  property  is  not  under  the  control  of  the  municipal 
government  a  Park  and  Recreation  Board  in  Cincinnati,  to  be  able 
to  prosecute  successfully  any  adequate  recreation  program,  must 
be  composed  in  a  way  to  insure  the  closest  co-operation  of  the 
Board  of  Education. 

The  duties  of  the  Park  and  Recreation  Board  should  be  three- 
fold: 

1.  The  acquisition  and  management  of  property  for  use  as  public 
parks  and  playgrounds. 

2.  The  establishment,  management  and  supervision  of  all  other  fa- 
cilities for  public  recreation,  exclusive  of  public  school  buildings 
used  as  social  centers. 

3.  The   supervision   of  commercial   recreation,   which   shall   include 
the  power  at  present  vested  in  the  Mayor  of  granting  and  revok- 
ing licenses  which  are  required  by  law. 

Such  a  board,  to  be  able  to  fulfill  its  duties,  should  have  the 
power  to  appoint  salaried  executive  officers  and  such  other  assist- 
ants, supervisors,  inspectors,  play-leaders  and  care-takers  as  may 
prove  necessary  to  efficiently  carry  out  the  three  functions  of  the 
Board. 

In  order  to  insure  enough  money  for  recreation  purposes,  the 
present  method  should  be  amplified  by  a  provision  in  the  new  charter 
to  permit  the  city  to  assess  neighboring  property  owners  for  the 
cost  of  improvement  of  their  property  by  the  establishment  of  public 
playgrounds.  This  method  is  used  successfully  in  Kansas  City. 

Methods  of  Administration  in  Other  Cities. 

The  plan  just  set  forth  is  not  altogether  a  new  one.  In  1912 
forty-seven  cities  in  the  United  States  had  Playground  or  Recrea- 
tion Commissions.  These  commissions  vary  greatly  in  scope  of 
functions.  In  some  cities  the  Recreation  Commission  conducts  and 
supervises  recreational  activities,  while  other  boards  establish  and 
maintain  them.  In  Columbus,  Ohio,  for  instance,  a  Department  of 
Public  Recreation  was  created  "to  study  the  recreational  needs  of 
the  city  and  to  have  charge  and  supervision  under  and  with  the 
proper  officers  of  the  city  of  all  such  institutions  (playgrounds, 
recreation  centers,  baths,  etc.)  now  or  hereafter  to  be  established." 
In  other  cities  this  power  is  limited  by  the  right  of  the  boards  estab- 
lishing and  controlling  the  recreational  facilities,  to  veto  plans  to 
use  them. 

To  overcome  this  difficulty  other  cities  so  constitute  their 
Recreation  Commissions  that  the  co-operation  of  the  various  boards 
controlling  recreation  facilities  is  to  a  certain  extent  insured.  In  a 
recent  recreation  survey  made  in  Detroit  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Board  of  Commerce,  for  example,  it  was  recommended  that  the 
revised  city  charter  include  provisions  for  a  Recreation  Commission 
to  consist  of  seven  members — two  citizens  appointed  by  the  Mayor. 


46  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI. 

and  the  Superintendent  of  Schools, 'the  Park  Commissioner,  the 
Librarian  of  the  Public  Library,  the  Police  Commissioner  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Public  Work. 

All  of  these  methods  have  one  great  defect,  however.  The 
Recreation  Commission  has  no  power  to  establish  recreation  facili- 
ties and  thus  develop  a  consistent  recreation  program.  The  Park, 
School  and  other  boards  are  the  landlords,  as  it  were,  of  the  Recrea- 
tion Board.  As  it  is  the  natural  tendency  of  each  board  to  seek  to 
secure  as  much  of  the  money  as  possible  to  be  appropriated  by  the 
city  for  recreation,  and  to  spend  the  funds  at  its  disposal  principally 
for  the  special  purpose  for  which  it  was  created,  the  result  is  that 
money  expended  for  public  recreation  is  not  as  'fairly  proportioned 
to  the  city's  broad  recreational  needs  as  it  would  be  were  one  board 
held  responsible  for  the  entire  recreation  program.  No  Recreation 
Board,  unless  it  has  the  power  to  establish  parks  and  playgrounds 
where  they  are  needed,  can  carry  out  a  comprehensive  recreation 
program,  as  a  Park  Board  is  interested  primarily  in  the  development 
of  a  boulevard  system,  and  in  all  likelihood  would  use  its  appro- 
priations in  a  large  measure  for  that  purpose.  To  divide  the  respon- 
sibility of  establishing  and  conducting  recreational  facilities  not  only 
offers  opportunity  for  friction  between  various  departments  of  the 
government,  but  results  in  a  less  economical  way  of  spending  the 
people's  money  and  in  a  less  comprehensive  recreation  program. 

In  Cincinnati  the  State  law  forces  the  establishment  and  super- 
vision of  social  centers  to  be  the  function  of  an  independent  political 
board,  but  in  all  other  matters  recreation  ought  to  be  treated  as  a 
unit  and  the  entire  responsibility  vested  in  one  board. 

SECTION  D.    SUGGESTIONS  FOR  AN  ADEQUATE  RECRE- 
ATION PROGRAM  FOR  CINCINNATI. 
I.     GENERAL  RECREATION  PROGRAM  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

A  Park  and  Recreation  Board  would  probably,  after  careful 
study,  formulate  a  plan  to  cover  the  recreational  needs  of  Cincinnati. 
It  is  not  beyond  the  scope  of  this  report,  however,  to  point  out 
various  policies  and  activities  which  should  be  included  in  a  com- 
prehensive recreation  program. 

A  policy  with  regard  to  public  outdoor  recreation  should  include 
the  following  provisions: 

1.  The  School  Board  should  hereafter  not  erect  public  school  build- 
ings without  making  ample  provisions  for  school  playgrounds. 

2.  School   playgrounds  should  be  kept  open  in  each  neighborhood 
for  the  use  of  children  from  2  to  13  years  of  age. 

3.  The  Park  and  Recreation  Board  should  establish  playfields  within 
a  reasonable    distance  of  each   other,   especially  adapted   to  the 
needs  of  young  people  between  the  ages  of  13  and  17  years,  and 
large  athletic  fields  in  different  sections  of  the  city  for  adults. 

4.  The    Recreation    and    School    Boards    should    jointly    employ    a 
Playground  Supervisor   so  as  to  unify  methods   of  supervision. 

5.  The  system  of  public  parks  and  parkways  as  a  part  of  a  broad 
recreation   system   should  be    developed   to   keep   pace    with    the 


R|-.(  RKATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI.  47 

growth  of  the  city,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  adequate  facilities 

tOr  active  outdoor  play. 

Such  a  policy  would- provide  ample  opportunity  for  public  out- 
door recreation  for  people  of  all  ages.  At  present  the  situation  with 
regard  to  young  people  is  well  described  in  a  teacher's  report  on 
home  conditions  of  the  pupils.  "The  majority  of  the  children  have 
yards  in  which  they  can  play,"  she  writes,  "but  they  are  very  dirty 
and  dingy,  and  the  children  seem  to  prefer  the  sidewalk.  There  are, 
however,  three  playgrounds  in  the  neighborhood.  These,  however, 
are  patronized  by  children  from  eight  to  twelve  years  of  age,  while 
both  the  younger  and  the  older  children  seem  to  prefer  the  street. 
There  are  girls  and  boys  wlp  are  about  fourteen  years  of  age  who 
work  part  of  the  day  only,  that  is,  until  about  four  o'clock.  They 
seem  to  be  on  the  street  standing  around  in  groups." 

The  Recreation  Boards'  policy  with  regard  to  indoor  recreation 
should  include  the  following  provisions: 

1.  After-school  playrooms  should  be  established  by  the  School  Board 
to    continue   the    work    of   the   playgrounds    during   the    winter 
months. 

2.  A  director  of  Girls'  Clubs  and  a  director  of  Boys'  Clubs  should 
be  appointed   to   study   the  needs  of  the   adolescent  youth  and 
stimulate  the   establishment  of  social  clubs  in  exery   section  of 
the   city.     These   clubs   could   meet   either  at   social   centers   or 
public  libraries. 

3.  Social  rooms  equipped  with  facilities  for  games  of  various  sorts 
should  be  open  nightly  in  the  schoolhouses  in  congested  districts 
for  the  convenience  of  young  girls  and  men. 

4.  Social  center  activities  conducted  by  the  School   Board   should 
be   along  the   broadest  lines  and   should   include    the   giving  of 
neighborhood  dances  at  regular  intervals. 

5.  Where  the  School  Board  is  unable  to  maintain  and  conduct  a 
social   center  in  a  neighborhood  lacking   sufficient  facilities   for 
recreation,  the  Park  and  Recreation  Board  should  establish  and 
maintain  recreation  centers,  as  it  is  done  in  Chicago,  Seattle  and 
other  cities. 

The  policy  of  the  Park  and  Recreation  Board  with  regard  to 
the   control -of  commercial   recreation  should  be  along  the  follow- 
ing lines: 
1.    All   forms  of  commercial   recreation   should   be   under   constant 

supervision. 
"2.    This  supervision  should   in  no  way  check  the  free  development 

of   commercial    recreation,    but    should   increase    its    recreational 

value. 

II.     IMMEDIATE  RECREATION  NEEDS  OF  CINCINNATI. 

\\V  have  just  outlined  a  general  recreation  program.  There  are, 
however,  certain  things  which  should  be  done  at  once  to  improve 
our  recreation  system1.  Throughout  the  report  specific  instances  of 
lack  of  recreational  facilities  and  the  lack  of  power  for  supervision 
and  control  have  been  pointed  out.  They  are  gathered  in  this  sec- 
tion of  the  report  into  a  recreation  program  to  meet  the  immediate 
urgent  needs  of  Cincinnati. 


48  RECREATION    SURVEY    OF    CINCINNATI.  . 

With  Reference  to  Pub-lie  Play  Space. 

1.  A  playground  should  be  established  in  the  northern  section  of 
the  Seventh  Ward  or  the  southern  section  of  the  Tenth  Ward. 

2.  An  athletic  field  should  be  located  east  of  Millcreek  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  western  section  of  the  city. 

3.  Until  an  adequate  number  of  playgrounds  are  provided,  certain 
.  streets,  least  used  by  traffic,  should  be  shut  off  in  the  congested 

sections  of  the  city,  to  be  used,  under  supervision,  for  play  pur- 
poses. 

4.  The   present   playgrounds  in   the   congested   section   of  the   city 
should  be  open  twelve  months  in  the  year.     Seventy-one  cities 
in  the  United  States  keep  299  centers  open  throughout  the  year. 

5.  The  public  parks  should  be  better  supervised. 

With  Reference  to  Public  Indoor  Rrecreation  Facilities. 

1.  A  social  center  for  colored  people  should  be  established  as  near 
Eighth  and  Mound  streets  as  possible. 

2.  A  social  center  should  be  opened  in  either  the  Sixth  District  or 
Webster  Schools.     Neither  of.  these  buildings  are  new  and  espe- 
cially equipped  for  social  center  purposes,  but  the  congestion  of 
population  is   so  great  in  that  locality  that  the  need  is  urgent. 
No  private  agencies  provide  means  for  recreation  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. 

3.  A  social  center  should  be  opened  at  the  Washburn  School,  where 
the' density  of  population  is  129.3  persons  per  acre;  at  the  Sands 
School,  where  the  density  of  population  is  89.3  persons  per  acre, 
and  at  the  Chase  School  in  Cumminsville,  where  the  density  of 
population   is  83.4  persons  per  acre.     The   Guilford   School,  al- 
though the  newest  building  and  best  equipped  for  social  center 
activities,  is  located  in  a  district  where  the  density  of  population 
is  only  30.3  persons  per  acre.     There  are,  moreover,  two  social 
agencies  in  its  immediate  vicinity  affording  good  opportunities 
for  recreation. 

With  Reference  to  the  Control  of  Commercial  Recreation. 

1.  Steps    should   be   taken   to    secure    the   censorship   of   theatrical 
posters. 

2.  Section  879  of  the  Codification  of  Ordinances  should  be  amended 
so  as  to  make  it  unlawful  to  permit  suggestive  acts  and  speeches 
in  any  performance  or  exhibition. 

3.  Persons  who  wish  to  conduct  amusement  parks  ought  to  be  re- 
quired to  secure  a  license. 

4.  An  ordinance  empowering  the  city  to  forbid  steam  vessels  which 
are   not   sufficiently   supervised   or   lighted    to   make   use   of   the 
public  docks  should  be  passed  to  provide  for  control  of  recrea- 
tional conditions  on  excursion  boats. 

5.  A  new  ordinance  for  the  control  of  public  dance  halls  should  be 
passed,  providing  special  machinery  for  the  inspection  of  public 
dances  by  the  municipal  authorities. 


RE 

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